Liverpool’s chase on Stewart Downing has taken a new twist today with reports suggesting that Aston Villa are demanding £25million for the England winger. When I heard this, I could not help but laugh.
Villa obviously think that Liverpool are a bunch of fools and we will spend obscene amounts of money on players just because we have spent a lot on Carroll and Henderson. I think clubs are getting the impression that Liverpool have very deep pockets and they can charge whatever they want. I firmly believe that Liverpool will not pay £25million especially since our £15million bid for him was rejected.
If Aston Villa said they want £17million for Downing that would be understandable but not £25million! Aston Villa are just chancing it here. They know we are after a winger and that Downing is one of our key targets. The fact that he still has two years left on his contract is what they could also be using to up his price whereas Ashley Young only had one year left on his Aston Villa deal before they sold him to Manchester United.
Liverpool should rather focus their attention on another winger such as Charles N’Zogbia, Adam Johnson or Michel Bastos than spend that amount on Downing. What do you think?
25 million way too much, Aston Villa are chancing their arm, there are other players who are better but also younger and cheaper go for them
Stand firm on the £15m bid but make it a cash plus player deal by chucking in Joe Cole and/or Milan Jovanovic on top
25 million is jus stupid… Adam Johnson or Bastos r much better options… Liverpool should spent wisely..!!
not even 15 euros i ll pay for that rubbish.bring arda turan pls kenny.
I think many fans would be very dissapointed in Kenny if he insisted on having Downing at anything over £19 million. Personally, I truly don’t think Downing is worth more than £15 million. Let Dalglish have N’Zogbia and Carroll work out their differences for the good of the club. They’re both a few years older and should be mature enough to put things in the past. If Rooney and Ronaldo did it in 2006, surely they can.
What I think you scousers are failing to understand is Aston Villa don’t want to sell Downing, they don’t need to sell Downing.
Last season he picked up Players player, fans player and sponsors player of the season, he has 2 years left on his contract and we’ve just sold Ashley Young who had 1 year left on his contract for over 16mil.
They’ve put a big price on his head because they don’t want to sell, but you would have to offer stupid money to get him.
Are you willing to offer stupid money? I don’t think so, even if he put in a transfer request we will still want more than the poxy millions you’re offering, remember he was OUR player of the season last year and he’s still OUR player.
aston villa will never get more than 18mil for this player!!! so they better take liverpool next offer!!!
Cory, the name says it all!! He may be your player at this minute but very soon he’ll be ours.
We don’t want him ben_lfc he’s not worth £10m let alone £25m
do the math, the guy is 27 with maybe 3 years of use to us before he crocks, even at £20m and wages this is £8m per year which does not fit with FSGs transfer policy.
U dont have 2 kill ur self all this are rumours its fake i trust my king and my dirctor they can handle that ok
I think many on here are missing the point. Villa have said they don’t want to sell just like we did with Torres..£50mln was silly money we couldn’t turn down and it will also take silly money for Villa to budge. I am sure for the £25mln we can possibly get Nzogbia and another player for £15mln
Villa know he will only go to Liverpool so they will have to take £15+Cole or have a very very unhappy player next season, I think he will throw in a transfer request very soon. He has burn’t his bridges as the Villa fans know he wants out, there is no way he can stay there now……he will be a Liverpool player this week!!!
Thank you Jon.
We bought Downing with a broken foot and paid 6 months of his wages whilst he sat in the stands, his first full season he gets player of the season then his via his agent he’s tapped up to go to Liverpool…Can you see why Aston Villa don’t want to sell?
Player power has become stupid now, sadly as an Aston Villa fan it’s not the first time I’ve seen this and I’m sure it will not be the last.
Let’s see if anyone will pay £25 mil for him! maybe Man.C will take him as a boot boy LOL. Downing is only worth £12 mil he wants to leave shit Villa so if the king wants him Villa have no choice or is Villa going to keep him out of the team for the next year?
NEXT 🙂
age may not be on his side, but he is peaking it now and he knows the prem . villa are playing hard ball and mcleish obviously wants downing to stay. so we are paying for that. i think we should spend up to 22 mill on downing.P.S – citeh wouldn’t sell johnson to us. Verdict – we need downing
Tony,
Downing has already said that if he don’t leave this season he will give 100% for Villa next season…I can post quotes if you like?
Paul,
You don’t have to pay what we’re asking for Downing, Liverpool football club can simply walk away.
It’s your club that keep on coming in with the offers, we’ve not put him in the shop window for sale.
Cory,
if you keep him Villa will never get close to the money that is on offer and with 1 year left on his contract you will be lucky to get £10 mil not £15-£20 mil no player will give 100% if they are not happy.
As Cory says, Downing is a Villa player, their player of the year from last year – they don’t want to lose him
It wasn’t long ago that Villa looked a real good side with Barry, Milner, Young, Agbonlahor, Downing etc in the side
They are slowly being stripped of their best players, and owner can’t be seen to allow Downing to go too
Unfortunately for Villa fans, Downing will have to demand a transfer, and virtually go on strike to get a move for under £18 million to Liverpool
Player power is all too rampant these days, we were hurt by Torres move.
N’zogbia is too much of a risk for us, he will probably ease off once he’s achieved a move to a “big club”
Villa should, for the sake of their fans, keep Downing AND take a punt on N’Zogbia
Cory,
i do agree LFC should move on if Villa want to hold on to him and tbh i have not heard Downing put a transfer request in so we should look for other players that fit the bill.
Paul, but what good is the extra few million when you can’t get a player like Downing within the price range or you would be going for him.
N’Zogbia should be our replacement for Ashley Young not Downing.
Simon,
i would be happy to go for Matta but would he cut it in the EPL?
Let’s look at the facts villa don’t need the money, downing has 2 years left on his contract and if he has another great season I’m sure they will get between 12 and 15 million with 1 year left on his contract like they did with Ashley young.
If he wants to sulk at villa for a year then he will be punishing himself especially when the euro championships are next year, I don’t think the villa have anything to lose, and I don’t see him playing at anfield this season.
It’s the same scenario for Barry and we missed out on him and he went to man city, I would prefer Adam Johnson, but there’s no way man city will sell him to us and if they do I reckon it would be at a well inflated price.
Mata will want champion’s league football and the other option is nzogbia who left Newcastle because of the Andy Carroll brawl, that wasn’t just handbags.
I can see the villa getting nzogbia and keeping downing.
I heard that N’Zogbia is priced at £20 mil now as well! any club that LFC look at will have to pay way over the odds for a winger as the clubs know we need a winger. Man.C might sell S.W.F’s on the cheap as they need to off load players now.
Play Johnston on the right wing 🙂 i bet i get fish slapped now!!! lol
N’Zogbia isn’t priced at 20mil, a journo got it wrong misquoted Whelan.
Whelan simply said that N’Zogbia should be 20mil seeing as other players are being sold for that and he thinks N’Zogbia is just as good as them, but those players that are being sold for the 20mils are English players.
N’Zogbia will go for around 9mil.
hes definately not worth 25 million, but thats why they have put this price on his head they dont, and they dont have to sell, as quick as we get over this the better, its time to move on.
Im more disapointed about not being able to go after nzogbia, i think if carrol hadnt have had the big brawl with him at newcastle he would be here now.
I believe kk wil never pay that kind of amount 4 down even if he his world footballer of d year.take adam johnson instead he his so promiseing than down
nzogbia coming to liverpool is a big no no, unless we sell carroll lol
man city wont sell johnson, especially to us, if they did sell he would be 22 million plus, hes a much better player than downing.
If Kenny wants N’Zogbia he will not allow any player to dictate who can join the club! it would be down to N’Zogbia if he wants to join LFC and if he does then Carrol will have to get over it or Kenny will use Carrol as a goal post in training.
Could Kenny play G.J on the right wing as he seems better doing that than at right back, and Adam on the left wing? and try get a good up coming left wing and use the money to bring in a good left back and center back.
@paul nzogbia left newcastle partly because of the brawl, it started on the training ground and carried on in the changing room, and then they started again on the car park. i dont think nzogbia would even entertain coming.
@Simon, Good point! but hell it would be great to see who wins lol
http://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/north-east-news/evening-chronicle-news/2009/01/21/stars-n-zogbia-and-carroll-in-training-bust-up-72703-22744874/
2 weeks later he was sold.
He wants to leave, do villa fans want an unhappy player in their squad. The should be grateful were considering to buy him for that amount of money.
This is insane! They can keep him, we are in diar need for a central defender as well, lets move on, lots of good players out there.
Fadi chahin, MD.
@Billybob: I have ready the articles n its says that Nzogbia had already said he’ld be leavin (b4 the brawl). maybe the incident hastened his exit but doesnt necessarily mean thats d reason he left.
truthfully, even if they resolve their differences, I would only want up to take NZogbia as a last resort.
@Paul
Ultimately I think we will get Downing for £16-£18 million, but things will get real ugly between him and Villa first
We should have snapped him up 2 years in hindsight……..
Charlie Adam is our new superstar. He will play centrally and will be one of first names on teamsheet. All play will go through him. Kenny must have promised him a similar role to the one he played with Blackpool, dictating everything
Everyone seems to assume that Adam will be a squad player etc. Mark my words, Adam will be a revelation for us. Can’t wait for Fergie’s “his corners are worth £10 million” to be regurgitated to him after Adam assists Carroll with a few v Man U
Man U’s side next year, if rumours are to be believed could be seriously short, in terms of height, Nani, Young, Schneider (maybe), Diarra (maybe), Rafael / Fabio, Chicarito, Evra
We will kill them from corners alone
Does he really want to leave? he said he wants to play in the champions league and we are not in it, now he could sign a 4 or 5 year deal with us now and what happens if we dont make the champions league next season? Would he be trying to move on again because we dont qualify for the champions league?
I think hes edged his bets, he can stay with villa, if he has another good season he will be a wanted man, by hanging on he can see our progress and if we dont make the champions league he can go elsewhere. What hes probably thinking is this is going to probably be his last move,and nit needs to be the right one,
I think if chelsea, man utd or man city where after him he would be begging to go. But i think even arsenal are not guaranteed champions league football, and s as made i think this as made downing think more and more about his next move.
I think lerner wont entertain us at all, he has already said he will not sell to us and mcliesh has said he is not for sale. We here reports the player wants to sign for us, but i havent heard him say it and no one else has either, i think its tme we looked elswhere.
Mata!
£25mil is a joke, if we were to buy Downing for <£15mil I'd be happy but anything over would be embarrassing. I never knew N'Zogbia and Carroll didn't get on, I think N'Zogbia would be a better option still. Adam Johnson would be my ideal signing, but city would probably try to rip us off to. So as I always say, let's go for Juan Mata, he's awesome, and young, unlike Downing.
25m?
i rather get n’zogbia, adam johnson, juan mata, milner, rather than downing… he is good, but not worth 25m…
He is not even worth 10m much less 25m.. Please tell Dalglish to stop buying all this Brit crap and go get real players! If I wanted to watch a Brit team lose I would watch the national team. We still lack a creative midfielder to distribute the ball. Adam is so overrated it’s ridiculous.. It’s obvious Dalglish is only interest in Brit talent and that’s going to leave us outside the CL again next season. Tell him that the 70’s are over and England lost.. they can’t produce talent and we should be looking elsewhere.. you know.. like the teams that actually win the EPL do!!!
I really think we should take the risk with Nzogbia. He practically kept Wigan up on his own last season and looked good doing it. I know it is a completely different ball game when you are surrounded by people who can, and want to play football but he clearly has talent, and if KK can get into his head, he could be molded into the type of winger we need.
Forget about Downing. Use the money saved with Nzogbia to strengthen elsewhere and if in 2 years time he hasnt produced, admit the mistake and cut your losses
To be honest I prefer N’Zogbia, saying that I see the logic in the Downing signing in that he puts crosses into the box. I think N’Zogbia can do the same albeit if he does have the tendency to cut in, I believe KD could instruct him to do likewise. I think a N’Zogbia purchases brings better value for money- two years younger, half the price (10mill), quicker, stronger, better dribbler/makes more penetrating runs, keener eye for a goal!
For me it’s his blistering pace and dribbling abilities that win it for me. LFC have had major problems in creativity so much so that we find it difficult to break down smaller teams especially in cup competitions, and to our detriment when we came 2nd a few seasons ago.
I’d like to add that it would be a crime if we missed out on N’Zogbia!