Skillz

We paid 20M GBP + Garcia. Atletico valued Garcia at 7M to keep their fans happy, we didnt value him at all to keep ours happy. I have come to my own conclusion that with 1 year left on Luis' contract he was worth 4M. Therefore, IMO Torres cost us 24M GBP and was a f***ing bargain at the price (in hindsight )

Exactly, we are chasing shadows. My faith is in Rafa, I think he can do it, if not he is taking us forward IMO.

Possibly rotated less from one league game to the next but in all comps we rotated a hell of a lot.

No more Mr nice guy, David Moores (respect) is no longer here and if we are to win number 19 we have to be more ruthless. I would love us to do it being the nice guys, but it wont happen. That's a realisation i have come to.

This is actually funny now. Rafa will win out in the end and MON will even stupider than he does normally. How he can claim us to be to doing deals in public is beyond me.

He would do better than Kuyt, who would probably become his partner if available. I think Keane is a shrewd buy because of his versatility.

Fair enough mate. Personally rate Keane far higher than Bellamy. His consistency stands out for me as does his ability to cover for Torres if he gets injured whilst being perfectly able to play anywhere in the 3.

"Case" is short for "HeadCase"

Think I'll make that my sig

great thread and I agree entirely with it. I would add we will IMO play very similarly to Manchester United last year albeit with Torres. They look like signing Berbatov and I suspect they will with a system very similar to what I think we will and what the OP is suggesting once he arrives. I am very excited because I think this will allow us to play a very aggressive and attacking style. We will dominate some teams and finally we will see that 2-0 or 3-0 HT lead allowing Rafa to blood some of the youngster he has on the bench. Rafa was very critical of our inability to kill teams off last year and this system along with the proposed signings will go along way to changing that. Cudos to the OP, particularly his initial point regarding Agger/Skrtel bombing forward which I agree is a pertinent point. We will be strong in defence but have the ability to attack from any where. It will be devastating hopefully.

Damn right! If anyone was bothered to look at players Rafa has bought and then sold we are in the black Makes a big difference to begging other teams to take GH's crap on loan until their contract runs out because no one can afford to buy them due to stupid wages they were given. Rafa is worth his wage every year in his transfer dealings alone, IMO.

True. however it is rare for a player to submit a transfer request and Barry has spent 10 years there and cost them nothing. He probably feels he deserves it compared to alot of other players that collect it.

So true. So many seem to think we buy the player and that's it (Sepp Blatter?) but wage structure is far more important IMO or at least needs to be factored in.

Torres, Gerrard, Kuyt, Barry, Keane, Babel, Benayoun, Crespo, Masher , Agger, Sami, Aguero, , Carra, Lucas, Nemeth, Pacheco, San Jose, SILVA.

Top post mate. The spine is there, replace with Xabi with Barry, no wingers just fullbacks. We are going to score a s***load of goals IMO.

Very true, Iniesta in particular missed a few very good opportunities to play Torres in early and didn't. Torres would have made something of it and more than anything it puts the s*** up the defenders creating panic.

Could not agree more. Class act and for me, he is going to miss out on something special. I wish him all the best though and suspect he will dominate SerieA.

Great news this. Rafa will wait and introduce this guy when he is ready and give a run of games to exceed and he will. I cannot wait to see what Rafa brings through over the next few years.

Well do you think we are in for Xavi? or do you think it is agent talk?

Glad to see someone is awake. Xavi FFS

IMO the deal is already set up. The only contigency is Xabi gets through the Euro's injury free.

Fair enough. I expect he would say that if he has asked Rafa 12 months ago to sanction his sale this summer. Rafa might of told him he has to say that because if he publicly states he wants out our position is not as strong.

True. I have formed my opinion on this transfer long ago and it nots going to change. We'll soon know IMO. Considering he was involved in a very big tournament and we have been negotiating his sale publicly would surely piss him off no end. I would expect he would voice his displeasure over this now the tournament is over. Bet he doesn't though because it has been in planning for ages with our consent but due to his want. Personally I hope MON refuses to buckle, Xabi's Mrs wakes up to the majesty of the Mersey lifestyle and he stays. He's class.

That's as good a reason to believe that this move was initiated by Xabi himself as i keep saying. I simply do not believe Rafa would be getting rid if it wasn't requested by Xabi. On top of that, if i am honest, in the last 18 months I reckon I have seen only 2-3 games where Xabi has played with the same urgency as he did last night which suggest to me he hasn't been focused enough. Gonna miss him though, especially when the reports come in that he is carving up Serie A, which i have no doubt will happen.

I hope you are right, I put $5 on him for Euro topscorer at 40/1. Only needs a hat trick