Take note United, Moreno transfer is how it's done

If reports are true and we have captured 22-year-old left back Alberto Moreno from Sevilla for £12m, Ian Ayre has outdone himself because that's a solid piece of business.  The original asking price was €20m or £15.9m, but months of negotiating dwindled it down, though I am sure there is some fine print of add-ons and possible transfer fee reductions of Iago Aspas if they choose to keep him.  Instead of being like United and just breaking out the check book, compromise appeared to have actually taken place, and we got a player at a fair price, though he could become a 'steal' down the road.

On top of his defensive abilities, Moreno has the dribbling and passing skills to make a tremendous impact on attack as well.  It's his acumen, his ability to discern and anticipate his opponent's next move that is most impressive and helps him shut'em down. His pace and vigor will benefit him on both sides of the pitch and are definitely Premier league quality.

The stats from his two seasons at Sevilla show different sides of his skill spectrum.  In his first season he excelled on defence and the second he improved his attacking numbers though seemingly at the cost of his defensive contribution:

yr	gc90	cc90	ps%	bp%	tti90	gopd	tkl90	tkl%	int90	clr90	adw90	adw%
13-14	0.11	0.71	0.789	0.365	8.62	-0.15	1.94	.396	2.72	1.64	1.94	0.500
12-13	0.08	0.67	0.781	0.45	10	0.73	2.42	.378	3.83	3.50	1.92	0.478

He improved in nearly every attacking category, but slagged off a little on defense.  His improvement in backpass percentage and true turnover index per 90 minutes was quite impressive.  The drop in tackles, interceptions, and clearances per 90 minutes are disappointing and hopefully just a one year slump.  The drastic decline in his goals-on-pitch is alarming, hopefully going from a very impressive 0.73 to a -0.15 is just a glitch and he becomes a positive influence once again.

If he can get back to his first season numbers in the first third and continue his improvement in the opponent's, he'll be well-worth his reasonable price tag.  At least we didn't pay £30m for him, Shaw will have to put up at least twice the numbers of Moreno to prove he's worth that much.

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.

'Forgotten' French striker may be able to fill Remy void

Kevin Gameiro, as it would seem, has had a career of ups-and-downs, but the truth is, he's been consistently productive.  When the French striker transferred from Lorient to PSG in the summer of 2011, he gave up a starting spot to be a squad player, which is admirable and earned him a Ligue 1 title, but also stunted his development.  At 23, he was coming off his most productive season: 22 goals, 0.70 goals created per 90 minutes, and 1.57 chances created per 90 minutes.

His first season in Paris, could probably be labeled a 'failure'. He posted the second lowest non-penalty goals created of that point in his career and lowest since at 0.40 per 90 minutes and his career low of -0.21 goals on pitch difference.  He showed he wasn't ready to be the starting striker on a league contender and Zlatan Ibrahimović was brought in to take over that spot.  Despite being relegated to the bench, Gameiro got better and put up impressive numbers for what little time he saw the pitch.

In the 2012-13 season, Gameiro became a super-sub, producing much of the best per 90 and percentage stats of his career:

npg90	gc90	gc90	pass%	cr%	sacc%	gopd
0.82	0.92	0.92	84.9	30.8	65.52	0.72

A mutual parting, found him in Sevilla, partnered with the likes of Carlos Bacca, Jose Antonio Reyes, Ivan Ratikic, and Vitolo.  Last season, his first with the Andalusian club, he appeared to return to his all-round attacking form that he seemed to lose at PSG.  He posted nearly as many chances created in one season than he did in two at the French club (28 to 30) and his overall stats improved, including a career low in turnovers:

npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
0.62	0.14	0.86	1.33	0.107	78.22%	53.70%	24.07%	10.24

Gameiro showed he could do what he did in his limited final season in Paris, for a whole season in Spain.  He is coming into his prime, just turning 27 and finally looks ready to be a major contributor for a contender.  He may not have the ability of a Suarez, but he's certainly better than an Antoine Griezmann. Here are his stats from last year:

npg90	ap90	gc90	cc90	ccv	pass%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
0.54	0.1	0.64	1.15	8.7	77.20%	47.70%	14.40%	10.9

Gameiro bettered him in every single stat and Griezmann arguably had a better supporting side.

Jose Enrique deserves the right to win his spot back

Whether we bring in another left back or not (hopefully not Moreno though), Jose Enrique has the right to win his place back.  If he can return from knee injury and produce as he did the season prior, he should be our first choice with Flanagan being the 'defensive'/cup option.

year	2010-11	2011-12	2012-13	2013-14
club	Newcastle	Liverpool	Liverpool	Liverpool
age	24	25	26	27
app(subs)	36	33(2)	25(4)	6(2)
mins	3123	2994	2257	604
p90	34.7	33.3	25.1	6.7
goals	0	0	2	0
assist	1	2	4	2
chances	30	36	26	8
npgp90	0	0	0.08	0
gcp90	0.03	0.06	0.24	0.3
ccp90	0.87	1.08	1.04	1.19
ap90	0.03	0.06	0.16	0.3
ccv	3.4	5.6	15.4	25.2
pass%	77	80.6	76.7	80.4
bp%	-	-	37	40.8
sacc%	21.1	23.1	36.4	50
shot%	0	0	9.1	0
TTI90	14	13.3	15.6	11.2
gap90	1	1.05	0.92	0.6
gsp90	1.04	1.2	1.91	1.64
gop90	0.04	0.15	0.99	1.04
tgop	-0.03	0.13	0.74	1.32
tp90	1.73	2.07	2.87	1.64
tack %	-	-	75.3	53.3
intp90	1.67	0.93	1.39	1.34
clrp90	1.76	1.41	1.95	2.99
dribpp90	0.26	0.36	0.36	0.3
bsp90	0.35	0.15	0.12	0.15

Even in the short time he saw the pitch last year, he impressed.  His 25.2 chance created value was ridiculously good and even 15.2 from the season before is solid.  His tackle success rate of  75.3% from his second year at LFC is phenomenal as well, basically he succeeded on three out of four tackles attempted.

So how does his season before compare to Flanagan and Moreno from last season?

	Enrique	Flanagan	Moreno
npgp90	0.08	0.05	0.11
gcp90	0.24	0.1	0.11
ccp90	1.04	0.62	0.71
ap90	0.16	0.05	0
ccv	15.4	8.1	0
pass%	76.7	83.7	78.9
bp%	37	42.6	36.5
sacc%	36.4	42.9	17
shot%	9.1	14.3	13
TTI90	15.6	9.2	8.5
gap90	0.92	1.81	1.6
gsp90	1.91	3	1.98
gop90	0.99	1.19	0.38
tgop	0.74	1.32	0.45
tp90	2.87	3.8	1.94
tack %	75.3	45.7	39.6
intp90	1.39	1.9	2.72
clrp90	1.95	3.6	1.64
dribpp90	0.36	1.9	0.82
bsp90	0.12	0.2	0.3

Enrique is the only one above who had a goals on pitch average higher than his team and his chance created value is unparalleled.  The damning stat is Enrique's TTI90, 15.7 is dreadful, but in the handful of matches he participated in last season, he had a TTI90 of 11.2.  That's not good, but hopefully it's at least a sign of progress.  Other than that, neither Flanagan nor Moreno offer more than Enrique other than potential and years left of service and that doesn't make the latter worth £20m.

Today's Banter: Rafa may sit Torres, Martin to Yeovil?, CNN needs a better fact checker, & more

- Rafa has made sure that everyone knows this is his club when he stated that Torres' performance last night doesn't guarantee him a place at Wigan on Saturday. It might be best to start him on the bench anyhow as we should have a fresh Kuyt and Voronin, both of whom should be looking to redeem themselves after Saturday's subpar performance versus Birmingham.

- It's looking less likely that a rumored loan move for keeper David Martin to Yeovil Town will come to fruition. With last night's shaky performance from Frenchman Charles Itandje, it's understandable that Rafa wants to keep the 21-year-old Reserves keeper around. If Itandje stumbles on his second outing, I fully expect Martin to get his shot. Both Martin and out-on-loan Nikolay Mihaylov gave solid performances in the preseason.

- CNN made a slight and understandable error in this report from yesterday's Sevilla-Espanyol match, unless Luis Garcia was recently loaned out from Atletico to Espanyol. I think I would have heard about it though.

- Coppell claims it's Torres' pace that sets him apart from other players. I would have to agree that El Nino has some speed and quickness, but he's also strong and how can you not deny his uncanny ability to score any which way by foot after the Chelsea goal and the phenomenal second strike yesterday? He's just so unpredictable on the ball.

- Finally, Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt have both been named to Marco Van Bastien's provisional Holland squad for their upcoming Euro qualifier matches in mid-October. The fixtures are just three weeks away. Cheers.