The Transfer Rubbish Bin: Moreno likely? Di Maria Possible? Agger gone?

Sevilla club president Juan Castro has proclaimed that Liverpool have not yet met his club's evaluation for Alberto Moreno.  They want closer to £20m for the 22-year-old left back and LFC apparently have offer £14-16m plus bonuses.  The Mirror is reporting that the deal will be done after Sevilla play Real Madrid in the UEFA Super Cup match tomorrow.  Not sure why that matters because unless they sign another left back by the then, they won't have a true one to replace Moreno if he's sold.  Navarro and possibly Vitolo can 'cover' there, but neither are 'true' left backs.

Recovered from World Cup injury, Angel Di Maria has reported to Real Madrid despite grumblings that he desires to leave.  If he plays tomorrow in the UEFA Super Cup, it'll raise a few eyebrows.  Paris St. Germain would be the likeliest destination, but unless they rid themselves of a couple of 'A' list players, Lavezzi and Cavani in particular, they can't buy the 26-year-old winger due to their settlement agreement with the CFCB of UEFA.  That's a scintillating read, by the way.  Apparently Man United are the current favorites and are preparing a £55m bid for the Argentine. That is way too much, even for a player of Di Maria's class.  Is he part English? His market value according to transfermarkt.co.uk is £44m. Other than dinero, I can't see him walking into a starting spot for us like he would at United.  Would you sit Sterling or Coutinho for him? Not I, though we could play him in the hole which would take time away from Henderson and make Lallana's transfer even more irrelevant.  Considering he wants out of Real Madrid because the additions of James Rodriguez and Toni Kroos will severely cut into his pitch time, United would be better for him.  One can dream though.

Daniel Agger is apparently broken and bent.  So much so that he has gone 'tearfully begging' to Rodgers for a transfer.  It's a nice story and may hold some truth, but doubtful.  Sure, the 29-year-old centre back has been utilized considerably less the last couple of seasons, but he is still quality and we will need him as insurance, in case of injury to others. Their are also a ton of fixtures to be played next 'year' and the more coverage, the better off we'll be.  I hope we do whatever is necessary to hold on to our Vice Captain.  Good news is Rodgers has claimed that there have not been any approaches for the Dagger.

There is also word in the cyberspace that a 'huge' signing is coming.  Hopefully it isn't Cavani or Lavezzi or god help me, Mauro Icardi.  None of those players will be very helpful to us and considering Rodger's distaste for Andy Carroll, Cavani's style of play is quite similar though somewhat superior.  The Uruguyuan will problem come at an exorbitant price as well.  I also don't think Moreno can be considered a 'big deal' either, he is quality and may one day be considered 'world class', but he is years from that now.  Then who could be? Cuadrado? Reus? Fred? I just puked.

Yer havin' a Laugh-ezzi: 29-year-old forward simply overrated

Ezequiel Lavezzi is like a fine wine, he's gotten better with age, but is he good enough to help Liverpool win?  He doesn't score many goals, he has more than his fair share of turnovers, and he's an average passer at best, though he does make his passes count.  Over the past five seasons, he has a 2.03 chances created per 90 and a chance created value of 10.67%, both above average numbers in any league.

Ironic enough, the thing he does best was the about the only thing he hasn't consistently improved upon each season.  Last season he posted career percentage highs in pass completion (79.25%), shot accuracy (53.19%), and shot on target rate (19.15%).  Unfortunately, he set a career low in assists with zero and a chance created value also of zero, despite a 1.73 chance created per 90.  His turnover rate of 12.8 was a career low, but it's still not great and at 29, how many seasons does he have left in him?  We don't need another Rickie Lambert.

What is really alarming is that he has never posted a positive goals on pitch difference for any club any season, meaning he has never been a consistent contributor (or game changer) for a positive overall result.  In fact, his worst gopd season came last year, when he posted a -0.31 despite playing for the Ligue 1 champions.

There's really nothing Lavezzi does great, he's just an all-round good second striker.  He's not a 'big' signing, despite the hype and I get the feeling Rodgers would have to drastically overpay for him, a luxury we can't afford now that we've added Lovren and Origi at exorbitant prices.  He doesn't have the pace to compete in the Prem anymore, if he ever truly did, and there's really nothing in his past that indicates he's suddenly going to be a world beater.  Personally, I think Liverpool should pass and try to get Reus, Shaquiri, or Kruse.

The 'dream' signings to forget Loic Remy

Now that the Remy deal is off, Rodgers should be back in the market for another striker unless Divock Origi doesn't go back to Lille on loan, but I'm sure that was a non-negotiable part of the deal.  There are plenty of options out there, though the more experienced may be harder to convince to leave their current clubs and the younger ones are risks due to lack of experience.  Then you have the older, temporary solution, who hardly ever make mistakes, but don't always adapt well and produce.

Two of these 'dream' signings would be either Pedro or José María Callejón. The chances of Rodriguez leaving Barcelona are little to none, he would have to be 'sold' into coming to Liverpool, it would take more than just money to convince him and who says Barca would let him leave? It really depends on whether he is willing to play fourth fiddle to Messi, Neymar, and Suarez, when the Uruguayan becomes eligible, or be a starter and get all the minutes he wants at Liverpool.  His numbers the past five seasons in La Liga and in Europe are not mind-blowing, but far from shabby:

npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
0.44	0.22	0.67	1.33	16.2	88.4	48.6	20.6	10.98

Callejón may be easier to convince to leave Napoli.  Rafa may even take a player or two in exchange for the Spaniard, who had a breakout season last year, his first in Italy.  His stats from the last five seasons of La Liga, Serie A, and European competitions are comparable to Pedro, though less impressive:

npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
0.31	0.17	0.48	1.39	12.1	81.6	42.5	12.9	11.18

I highly doubt we could pry either one of these players from their respective clubs, but it wouldn't hurt to inquire.  Barcelona are interested in Agger and though I'd rather we hang on to the Dane, if it means getting Pedro, it'd be hard to pass up.

Two others come to mind and I've written about both before.  Seydou Doumbia has been tearing up the Russian Premier League and the Swiss Super League for years now.  You can read more about his amazing production here. 

I've briefly mentioned the torrid scoring rate of 21-year-old Jesé Rodríguez.  The Real Madrid forward is off to a blistering start in his career and the sky seems the limit.  His influence on his club is beyond just numbers though, in the 18 matches he featured last season, Real earned 47 pts, in the 20 he did not, they only managed 40.  He is coming off injury though, which is a worry.  Before so, he posted these ridiculous numbers:

gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90	gopd
1.3	1.94	30.7	83.2	52.40	52.40	23.80	10.90	1.24

Oh yeah, then there's Marco Reus.

Next I'll write about some lesser known, less expensive, but certainly less sexier picks like Nolito, Kevin Gameiro, and Max Kruse.

Not Bob Loblaw's Transfers Log Blog

Here are links to posts from the last month or so on various potential transfer targets and players we have already signed:

Wilfred Bony
Marco Reus
Ben Davies
Antoine Griezmann & Carlos Vela
DeAndre Yedlin
Memphis Depay
Dejan Lovren
Klaas-Jan Huntelaar
Ryan Bertrand
Toby Anderweireld
Lazar Markovic
Divock Origi
Marcelo
Jason Davidson
Daley Blind
Ricardo Rodriguez
Luke Shaw
Alexis Sanchez
Emre Can
Adam Lallana

Anyone else I should do a stat check & comparison on? Let me know in the comments or email me (go to contact page). Cheers.

Is Marco Reus the 'dream signing'?

It seems some people believe that Marco Reus would be the 'dream signing' for us.  Well, other than the fact that he would cost at least £35m to sign him, yes, he would be a great pick up, but do we really need him? I don't think so, he is a better all-round attacking midfielder than Sterling and Coutinho, but he's also 6 years older than the former and 3 years senior the latter. Let's look at their outputs from last season:

	Marco Reus	Coutinho	Sterling
age	25	22	19
app(subs)	26(4)	28(5)	24(9)
mins	2208	2323	2220
p90	24.5	25.8	24.7
goals	16	5	9
assist	13	7	5
chances	90	64	51
npgp90	0.41	0.19	0.36
gcp90	1.18	0.47	0.57
ccp90	3.67	2.5	2.06
ap90	0.53	0.27	0.2
ccv	14.4	10.8	9.7
pass%	74.5	80.6	81.7
bp%	44.5	36.7	46.8
sacc%	43.6	28.7	48.9
shot%	14.5	7	20
TTI90	17.6	11	12.1
gap90	1.27	1.43	1.26
gsp90	2.41	3.02	2.8
gop90	1.14	1.59	1.54
tgop	1.24	1.32	1.32

Stats definitions can be found here.

Reus seriously dominates the individual p90s, his 3.67 chance created per 90 is impressive alone, but 14.4% of those are converted into goals, better than both his above counterparts.  His passing overall could improve and probably the most perplexing stat is his goals on pitch 90 being -0.10 less than his team's gop average. Also his true turnover rate is a dismal 17.6, mainly due to his errant passing and being easily dispossessed.

Do we really need to spend £35m on an attacking midfielder? Don't get me wrong, I understand we can play him 'in the hole' behind Sturridge, but we could also you those funds to buy better defenders and not have to try and outscore all of our opponents.  Plus I think we need to give Sterling, Coutinho, and even Jordan Henderson as much time on the pitch as possible to so they can become as good as Reus is now.