Lack of summer activity due to the wage bill?

Here is the list of senior players, over the age of 28, that should be sold/released/loaned this summer:

Fabio Aurelio (1979) - contract until 2012
Sotirios Kyrgiakos (1979) - contract until 2012
Christian Poulsen (1980) - contract until 2013
Joe Cole (1981) - contract until 2014
Paul Konchesky (1981) - contract until 2014
Milan Jovanović (1981) - contract until 2013
Brad Jones (1982) - contract until 2014
Philipp Degen (1983) - contract until 2012

If the players have got a contract the club cannot release them without the players consent, also I am sure the players would want paying the unexpired part of their contract paid up fully..It should be remembered that Aurelio was relased last year and was re-signed because of lack of cover due to the short sightedness of our previous management team.

If the players have got a contract the club cannot release them without the players consent, also I am sure the players would want paying the unexpired part of their contract paid up fully..It should be remembered that Aurelio was relased last year and was re-signed because of lack of cover due to the short sightedness of our previous management team.

Of course, the players can not be released without their consent, but it is a very common thing in international sports to negotiate a buy-out of the contract, once the player is no longer needed for the team ... The clubs usually continue to pay a portion of player's wages, and he earns the rest by playing for another club ...

Here is the list of senior players, over the age of 28, that should be sold/released/loaned this summer:

Fabio Aurelio (1979) - contract until 2012
Sotirios Kyrgiakos (1979) - contract until 2012
Christian Poulsen (1980) - contract until 2013
Joe Cole (1981) - contract until 2014
Paul Konchesky (1981) - contract until 2014
Milan Jovanović (1981) - contract until 2013
Brad Jones (1982) - contract until 2014
Philipp Degen (1983) - contract until 2012

I'm glad so many of us are thinking about this issue, let's hope the club are giving it some serious thought because these players cannot start another season in a red shirt. The players agents should be approached with a buy-out offer; it's quite common in other walks of life where someone doesn't fit but the role they are in is of critical importance to the overall success of the organization. It happens a lot in plc's where the wrong senior executive gets recruited - all organizations make recruitment mistakes and lfc is no different to any other business in that respect.

Here is the list of senior players, over the age of 28, that should be sold/released/loaned this summer:

Fabio Aurelio (1979) - contract until 2012
Sotirios Kyrgiakos (1979) - contract until 2012
Christian Poulsen (1980) - contract until 2013
Joe Cole (1981) - contract until 2014
Paul Konchesky (1981) - contract until 2014
Milan Jovanović (1981) - contract until 2013
Brad Jones (1982) - contract until 2014
Philipp Degen (1983) - contract until 2012

The Greek just got an extension what a month ago? pretty low wages I would assume and a good role player off the bench..see no need to move him this year.

The Greek just got an extension what a month ago? pretty low wages I would assume and a good role player off the bench..see no need to move him this year.

He's got an automatic 1-year extension, due to an appearance-related clause in his contract being triggered ... If we sign another central defender (and judging by our bid for Phil Jones, we are looking for one), he will be surplus to requirements, especially since we already have Carragher, Agger and Skrtel ...

Tony Barrett

The size of the rebuilding job that Kenny Dalglish faces has become yet more apparent as the Liverpool squad get ready to return to pre-season training with only a single recruit among their ranks, but several players who are surplus to requirements.

Dalglish had hoped to welcome a batch of new players to the club’s Melwood training ground but only Jordan Henderson, the £16 million signing from Sunderland, has arrived.

Moves for Stewart Downing, the Aston Villa winger, and Charlie Adam, the Blackpool midfield player, remain in the pipeline but are no nearer to completion, although Liverpool are in regular contact with both clubs.

Before the end of last season, Dalglish said that the weeks leading up to pre-season would be “very important” to his squad-rebuilding plans as he looked to do the “good business” that he felt was necessary to give Liverpool the best possible chance of regaining a place in the top four of the Barclays Premier League.

But having been outbid for Connor Wickham by Sunderland, outmuscled by Manchester City for Gaël Clichy and beaten to Phil Jones by Manchester United, Dalglish is having to reassess his options with less than six weeks to go before the resumption of the Premier League.

The determination of John W. Henry, the club’s principal owner, to adhere to the principles of the Financial Fair Play rules means that Dalglish does not have significant transfer funds to fall back on, making it all the more essential that Liverpool shift at least some of the deadwood from a squad that has fallen short of expectations in the past two seasons.

The problem is that those players available for transfer are attracting little interest, and Alberto Aquilani, Philipp Degen, Nabil El Zhar, Emiliano Insúa, Paul Konchesky and Brad Jones, who were out on loan last season, will return to training today.

(The Times)

I'm a tad concerned now I have to say.

We heard about a month ago how we were trying to get the bulk of the transfers (I was guessing the domestic ones?) wrapped up before we got back for pre season but F**k all has happened since Henderson signed.

Hope we pick it up in the next couple of weeks.

Unfortunately, it seems that our financial commitments in the contracts of players like Joe Cole, Milan Jovanović, Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Fabio Aurelio, Brad Jones, Philipp Degen and Nabil El Zhar are limiting our ability to act in the transfer market at the moment ...

Unfortunately, it seems that our financial commitments in the contracts of players like Joe Cole, Milan Jovanović, Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky, Sotirios Kyrgiakos, Fabio Aurelio, Brad Jones, Philipp Degen and Nabil El Zhar are limiting our ability to act in the transfer market at the moment ...

Such a shame aswell

I'm a tad concerned now I have to say.

We heard about a month ago how we were trying to get the bulk of the transfers (I was guessing the domestic ones?) wrapped up before we got back for pre season but f**k all has happened since Henderson signed.

Hope we pick it up in the next couple of weeks.

We need to be calm and patient. Its still a lot of time left in the transfer window. At least, We have signed one player. There are many big clubs who haven't even signed one.

I've stated I'm actually worried as well.

I'm glad we signed Jordan Henderson as early as in June but we haven't still really got rid of the deadwoods in the squad and have lost many players to other clubs (Ashley Young, Phil Jones, Conor Wickham).

Hope things changes in the next few weeks and by the time the season starts, I'd be glad to see Henderson, Mata, Aguero and a left back! 

Just a touch concerned as we have only 1 addition to the squad and that is henderson,saying that i do beleive its a matter of minute details that would see us release and add players.

Im concerned big time. Since the January window its been hinted that theres a big summer ahead and the reinvestment of torres money into the side has led us to believe the owners are willing to spend.

However, surely when they took over they looked at the books and realised the cost of players wages/transfer fees. Every player that comes along now seems to be out of our price range or wants high wages. Well duh thats the way of the modern game. Did they ever believe we were gonna compete with the quality of other champs lge clubs with players costing 5m on 3ok a week in the toughest league in the world.

Basically im mostly pissed off cos we're being led to believe that these players arent suitable over money reasons. Either we want them or we dont eg wickham clichy marveaux Then if we decide we want them get them im tired of hanging around looking for bargains and losing out on players.

This policy is not helping our image as a club moving forward when we are refusing top quality young players over 10k a week type scenarios. Clichy is better than what we have at left back. Hes young proven and cost 7m. Now either we wanted him or we didnt. If we wanted him why did we let him go over a few quid.

And if the owners dont have the money to get these types of players then they more than likely dont have enough to compete against the top teams in europe quite simply. FFP is a smokescreen for saying they dont have the actual cash flow to inject into the club, we're the only team in the league even mentioning it.

Im afraid to see what our transfer policy will be if we have 300m of stadium debt added to the club..

It's early days yet, but the body language doesn't look good. JH seems to be the only person mentioning the FFP rules and it may well be a smokescreen as mentioned in the previuos post. I'm sure Hendo will be a talent going forward but if we are to get back into top 4, then challenge for the title we'll need more than that. Maybe the club needs to sell before buying. Perhaps the next few weeks might see more players leaving before others come in; let's hope. The deals for Downing and Adam seem to be taking a hell of a long time to come to fruition.

Are downing and adam even good enough for lfc especially at approx 25m for the 2. I dont see them as anything better than Riera and Aqua tbh

I understand that the owners have had success with the red sox but the premier league is completely different. American sports are a controlled group of franchises, players are picked through a lottery with the lowest teams getting the highest picks,players can not be sold for cash only traded for equal value,teams have equal amounts to spend and its all in the one country under one set of rules.

Football is completely different and im not sure without these types of regulations if LFC will be able to compete over the next 10 years unless we invest heavily like other clubs are doing. Im not talking about doing a real madrid and spending 200m in a summer but surely when the owners are looking to get new players 3 x 20m players isnt too unrealistic.

What we have is irrelevant. They bought the club knowing full well the players and deal we had. So in 3 years if carroll and hendo arent working out then we cant get replacement players unless they are sold on?? Thats a sell to buy poilcy which i thought we just got out of.. It seems these owners have great intentions and they have the sense to let kenny get what we wants but it means nothing if you dont have the cash to back it up.

If any of the above is true imagine 300m stadium debt on top of all this..

Are downing and adam even good enough for lfc especially at approx 25m for the 2. I dont see them as anything better than Riera and Aqua tbh

I am not the biggest fan of Downing, but he is a better player than Riera ... As for Adam, he is a worse player than Aquilani ...

Liverpool should be vary careful not to be too wary of a problem with wages.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League next year will be a far more serious blow financially than failing to get Poulsen, Jova, Degen, Soto etc off the wage bill.

Can understand the club's new targets but they shouldn't expect to solve it in one summer, and they should remember that sometimes you do have to speculate to accumulate.

Is it that the new owners know what is apparent to us - that Kenny can get exceptional results from a relatively average squad of players; we've got some quality there but there's a lot of deadwood, as has already been commented upon. The results since Kenny's re-appointment were very good, and only Chelsea equalled our performance in the league for the remainder of the season since Kenny's return. Perhaps they have already worked out that with Carroll, Suarez and Henderson for a full season along with say Downing and Enrique that we can supplant Arsenal and Man City and finish comfortably in the top three.That would mean that the big signings might not happen until next summer. I personally think we can go all the way next season; Kenny has a rare quality in the way he is able to motivate average players to play above their level and other managers know it. I think Man United have seen the future and they are worried that its a Liverpool future and are obviously investing heavily to maintain their own position and forestall a return of our domination.

Liverpool should be vary careful not to be too wary of a problem with wages.

Failure to qualify for the Champions League next year will be a far more serious blow financially than failing to get Poulsen, Jova, Degen, Soto etc off the wage bill.

Can understand the club's new targets but they shouldn't expect to solve it in one summer, and they should remember that sometimes you do have to speculate to accumulate.

Basically, I agree with your approach, but we must admit that the burden of their wages is already too big ... Players like Cole, Jovanovic, Poulsen, Konchesky, Kyrgiakos, Aurelio, Jones, Degen and El Zhar are commanding more than £20 million in wages per season ...

Yes, no business could survive with so much deadwood relative to it's overall pool of talent; the numbers simply don't add up. Another point for why it's so important to get rid - external investors who fsg want to attract will not invest if the club is not run like a proper business. I think this is another reason why the wage bill may have to slashed prior to new investment in players.

Considering the lack of interest from other clubs in buying our deadwood, it might be a good idea if we try to arrange some swap deals, or even some swap loan deals for our unwanted players ... Of course, we will be receiving other clubs' flops in return, but we will still have a better chance of finding something valuable there ...

Considering the lack of interest from other clubs in buying our deadwood, it might be a good idea if we try to arrange some swap deals, or even some swap loan deals for our unwanted players ... Of course, we will be receiving other clubs' flops in return, but we will still have a better chance of finding something valuable there ...

Why the F**k would we want other clubs flops? In my opinion we should still be looking to buy players with or without the sales of the deadwood.

We need CL qualification at very least next season, and the only way to do that is to improve the playing squad a lot more than we have already.

I would certainly hope that we have a strategy which covers us not selling the deadwood, and I sincerely hope that that strategy isn't "business closed".