Early bird transfer speculation worms (pt 3): Vicente, Mancini, Kenwyne Jones, Tomáš Ujfaluši, & Angulo

Left-wing is a position we are going to have to address in the very near future. I don't know how many years King Harry has left in him, but I'm gonna guess about two and he'll become more and more of a squad player as his time comes to a close. We have Ryan Babel to play over there, but in truth, he's more of a straight attacker than a proper winger. I actually consider Riise more of a left-wing than Babel, but he's mainly a defensive option there and it looks like the Norwegian Ginger may be on his way out next month. I've already mentioned Jérôme Rothen and Francesco Modesto as potential transfers, but there's also a couple of more out there to scoop.

Vicente, LW, Valencia - I have to admit I was a bit shocked to see that Vicente could be available in the January window. If there is even the slightest chance we could acquire him, it has to be done. Would he even want to come to Liverpool is a question that I know not the answer, but as with a lot of Los Che players, they have played and flourished under Rafa Benitez, so I have to believe he has a leg-up on most of them. He'll be 27 next July, so he still has plenty of football left in him, but what will he cost? Three years ago he was linked to Man United for £13m, so I really can't see us paying more than £15m for him. Rarely do I get excited about a player, neither Torres (which I was wrong, btw) nor Babel (ditto) did much for me, but Vicente is a special player who can make us an unbelievably class side. His recent injury-ladened seasons do worry me though. Somewhat likely.


Mancini, LW, AS Roma - It's sort of redundant to say that Mancini is talented, but his problem is his ego. He knows how good he is and a lot of the time it gets in the way of his performances on the pitch. I honestly don't think he's got the emotional stability to be in a side under Rafa. The constant rotation might have too much of a negative effect on him. That leads me to question if we're still pursuing him, he's probably no longer the top choice at the left. If the rumors are true, I believe that goes to Vicente. I'm think his valuation is somewhere in the ballpark of £16m. Somewhat likely.


Kenwyne Jones, FW, Sunderland - When I think of Kenwyne Jones, I think a younger, faster Emile Heskey. Is he as skilled? Well, he's definitely more athletic, but I'm still not sold on his footballing abilities. I honestly don't want him on our side, even though his strength would probably came in handy in the Premiership, but would be a detriment in Europe. Ultimately, I just don't think he's good enough for a side desiring to become a Premiership contender, plus it would take an exorbitantly unnecessary amount of money to pry him from Roy Keane's hands. Not likely.


Tomáš Ujfaluši, CB/FB, Fiorentina - Ujfaluši could have joined us in the summer, but I believe he rejected the deal, so I'm unsure why these rumors are starting up again. His contract is up at the end of the season and I'm guessing that he expected to receive an extension offer. Apparently either he hasn't or it was insufficient. He's 29-years-old and seems pretty versatile on the backline, so I can't really say he'd be a bad signing, but I have to believe he's closer to the bottom of our list, especially if we can sign Garay. He would be relatively inexpensive though, I'm thinking some where in the neighborhood of £3m. Somewhat likely.

Angulo, RB/RW/CM/LW/FW, Valencia - I would be happier than Charles Bukowski at an open-bar boxing match if we could just pillage the Valencia side for all of Ronald Koeman's 'undesirables' and Angulo is without a doubt, no exception. His versatility and experience alone would be priceless to our side, not to mention he's a pretty damn good player as well. For his valuation, certainly the fact that he's 30-years-old would have to be taken into consideration, but even £6m would be a fair price in my book. Somewhat likely. Nothing like a little Tupac & Bruce Hornsby to conclude a post:

I believe the next part of this series will be who I think should be sold and why. Cheers.