He is a good player, but not a great yet, and would like him to sign a new contract However, there are issues with his attitude, and he gets caught out with the diagonal ball far too often. Rafa has a decent record with signing centre backs, so I am not worried if we lose him, but not for the money being quoted, we should be looking for at least 12-15m.
El Zhar is 22yrs. If he was good enough he would be already in the team, or have a role akin to Babel. But he isnt good enough, not to play for Liverpool. Can't comment on Hammil as I have only seen him play in Scotland, where to be far he put in a few good performances.
They must think we have just come off a banana boat! Cannot afford a 60,000 seater stadium, but looking into options for a 70,000 seater. It defies belief.
No! Average in the Spanish league, will be average in the premier league! I dont know which City fans people have spoken to who really rated him, most of my City mates put him on par with the likes of Pennent or David White. They did say he is not in the same league as Petrov and not the quality of a Liverpool player.
A bit off topic, but an outgoing transfer all the same. Just heard from a mate of mine who reckons that Astrit Ajdarevic has been released, not sure about this, but I thought he was highly regarded at the club.
To say he is a better player than Pennant is highly debatable. No matter what we pay for him he is not good enough if we are to challenge the top two, I would rather not spend money on mediocrity. People would be up in arms if we were to spend £8-10 million on Downing (me too), who is far and away a better player than Riera.
Someone like Aimar could share the role with Gerrard. When Aimar plays Gerrard drops back alongside Mascherano, or on the right. Not sure Gerrard can play in the hole against really good teams, as they usually have a decent midfield pairing who can stiffle his game, whereas an Aimar type ghosts between the lines and is difficult to pick up.