Liverpool’s summer transfer plans seem to be shaping up nicely, Aston Villa have agreed to sell Stewart Downing to Liverpool for a reported £20million. It is thought that Liverpool will pay an initial £18.5million down-payment, with the fee rising after add-ons.
Kenny Dalglish has been trying very hard to get Downing to join Liverpool this summer as he searches for a player who can offer natural width to the side.
Villa’s chief executive Paul Faulkner said: “I can confirm that we have reached an agreement with Liverpool following an improved offer received earlier today and the submission of a formal transfer request by Stewart Downing, and have given them permission to speak with the player.”
Whilst Liverpool confirmed this news by saying, “Liverpool FC tonight announced they had agreed a fee with Aston Villa for the transfer of Stewart Downing.
Liverpool have now been granted permission to discuss personal terms with the player and arrange a medical.”
Downing is expected to arrive at Melwood today (Thursday) to undergo his medical and discuss personal terms. Both processes seem to be a formality now and Downing could be a Liverpool player by end of the day.
I’ll ask it again.. when was the last time a team won the EPL with all Brit players??? Manu had 4 starters last year.. We are buying way too much Brit crap and not getting enough world class talent. We finally have an owner that will splash the cash and we spend 100m on the Brit national team.. what a waste… If Manshitty had spent 85m on Downing, Carroll, Henderson and Adam .. we would be laughing our ass off at them and calling them complete morons..
the way i see this is like this- we have spent a lot on carroll. He needs quality service. Downing has a good cross on him and adam is a good set piece taker- therefore in theory, carroll will get good service and chances to score. I can see why we are targeting these guys, to get the best from carroll. Hope it pays off! Henderson is obviously being groomed as stevie g’s replacement when he hangs his boots up in 4 or 5 years. I am astonished with downing fee- but its not the players fault, so everybody- look at the bigger picture. It could work out beautifully! Now we need aly cissoko left back and marko marin! And get rid of dead wood players !
Why on earth should liverpool buy him for such amount of money while there are better players out there. Nzogbia should have been better. All the same, lets hope he will be a great signing for us.
Stop talking rubbish, N’Zogbia is not even close to Downing nor is Young!!!!!, Downing was the 2nd best crosser in the Prem last season and Villa’s player of the year. He score and creates…what more do some people want….FFS.
King Kenny is Manager. He makes the decisions and by the comments noted doesn’t seem like anyone noted above trusts him and his options! Not investing in Brit talent hasn’t taken us far, but Kenny will and I trust his buys! YNWA guys!
Everyone seems to think the English national team is crap and not worry of buying!
I put the blame on Cappello for that!
Secondly every European player dreams of playing for Madrid or Barca but British players dream of Liverpool and Man U…
So I see it as a smart decision!!!
Nigel we are not going to go for players like Marin and Cissokho, Suarez was a one off, I would much rather us sign world class players with any passport than just British.
Our English side is currently atrocious at all levels and so we go and sign 3 english players who arent even regulars at national level for around 75 million.
I dont want to sound like I am playing Fifa 11 career mode but surely Marin (15m) Mata (20m) Javi Martinez (20m) and Falcao (20m)would have been a much better option, younger and more importantly much better did anyone watch the under 21’s, England are crap.
ENGLAND are 4th in the FIFA rankings………….i was surprised too!!!!!!
Lmao fifa 11 career mode.
I think the Brits are in demand due to the new champion league rules regarding home grown players.
I don’t care how much it cost. Its not my money. In the end D is an LFC player. Great signing
its a great deal for liverpool to sign downing i want to see my team liver to win cups this coming season i love you all liverpool players and suppoters thanks to dalglish.good luck guys.
From what we read on the comments on the transfers we made this summer..one would have thought the team has been crap and that we are no where near where LFC needs to be…FFS the season hasn’t even started and the TEAM hasn’t been training under KD yet! Granted England hasn’t been performing for sometime in World stage but is it just the player’s fault? In EPL we usually see the owner fire the manager…as he is the one assembling the team..yeah…player(s) are at fault as well but we can’t simply say Brits are crap…Also, Forlan was crap in EPL but he is scoring in La Liga…so is he world class or crap? Good in 1 league doesn’t mean good in another…I am not saying which league is better…but LFC plays in EPL so we damn well better make sure we get player who gives the minimum risk in terms of performing in EPL…We have hailed the football intelligence of KD and Steve Clark so much recently – just not sure what all these negative comments come from…so they are now all of a sudden complete idiots and have no eyes for talent or how EPL works? Come on guys…
1 extra thought…World Cup, European Championship are tournament where elimination rounds happens…and yes the results recorded for English teams had been very disappointing..but in a 1 off situation anything can happen (after the group stage of course)…EPL is different as we have to consistently perform for 38 games…so to judge the players’ standards in such one-off tournament and translate that into an EPL season of 38 games is a bit of a stretch and somewhat unfair.
Liverpool have spent 75 million pounds on downing, carroll and henderson.
WOW.
And I mean that.
21 years……
Jay – the England team might be crap, but that doesn’t mean that all the players in that team are also crap. Downing has premier league experience, was one of the best players in the league last season and is rated very highly by the Villa fans, who don’t want to see him go. He will get plenty of assists, so why is everyone putting him down?
From the BBC:
DID YOU KNOW?
Downing completed more crosses in open play – 135 – than any other player in the Premier League last season. No other player has beaten that amount for any of the last three campaigns.