The circling speculation over Xabi Alonso

I hope Alonso can recapture the form of his first season at Liverpool because as much is people say bringing new players in will help with a title run, you need certain current players to step it up and Alonso is one of them

the only reason he did'nt perform as well as he can last season was largely to do with his broken foot

And being played out of position. Shoddy place for a playmaker to be stuck, its like telling Nando to only go 60% in a match.

Today, Turkish newspapers wrote, Fenerbahçe gave 16M euro, but Liverpool wants 20M euro for Alonso.

yeah thats true . daily mirror s website wrote that . if alonso goes , our midfield will be in a chaos.

still dont think he will go and i have thought that from the start!

Reds 'pleased' with Alonso

Last updated: 3rd August 2008

Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez insists he is not looking to sell Xabi Alonso in order to raise the necessary funds to sign Gareth Barry.

Benitez has conducted a summer-long hunt of £18million-rated Villa midfielder Barry, but it was believed the pursuit had come to an end when the Reds failed to meet a recent deadline for the deal.

However, Villa boss Martin O'Neill has confessed Barry could still leave and that it is up to Liverpool to meet the set asking price.

It has been suggested Benitez is considering off-loading Alonso to Juventus in a fundraising exercise, but the Anfield boss is not keen to see the Spanish midfielder leave.

Ranieri rejection

When asked if he is looking to sell Alonso, Benitez said: "It's simple. He is a very good player who is playing for us and I am really pleased with that."

It appears even more unlikely that Alonso will be moving to Juventus after the Serie A club's manager Claudio Ranieri ruled out interest in the 26-year-old.

"No," Ranieri replied when asked if he was looking to sign Alonso. "Not at all."

Meanwhile, Benitez is adamant that ending Liverpool's 18-year wait for a league title is not his number one priority.

Important

"Everything is important," he said. "Europe is important, the Premier League is important, the FA Cup and the Carling Cup, so we will try to win every trophy and you never know.

"We will try to win from the first game and then see the situation. We started really well and finished really well last season.

"Clearly we have confidence in ourselves and have the quality to try to win every game but you never know what can happen in any competition.

"If we can do the same this time then hopefully we will be better in the middle of the season. But we will be working really hard to be as competitive as we can."
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Hope this is the last position on the Alonso issue.

me too a definitly dont want to see such a good talent go

"We knew Alonso was a very good player and as a result he had a good price (on his head). We had offers, but they were not enough so we decided he needed to stay with us," said the Spanish coach.

"It could be that he does stay with us.

"For me it is not a problem if he stays or not. He can stay, we always have felt he is a good player.

"We are only talking about a very, very good price. He is a good player, if he is not going to bring a good price then it is very simple, easy to understand.

"I heard the crowd, obviously. We know now, as we knew before, that he could stay with us."

Quote from Rafa today from the Sky Sports website.

http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3955304,00.html

Rafa - Alonso may still leave
Reds midfielder will be sold for the right price

By Chris Burton   Last updated: 9th August 2008

The Spain international appears to have become the victim of the Reds' continued pursuit of Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry.

He has the full support of the Anfield faithful, though, who backed him throughout Friday's friendly against Lazio, while also displaying their opposition towards any move for Barry.

However, Benitez appears to have turned a deaf ear to the views from the terraces, admitting that a suitable offer could yet see him part with a popular member of his squad.

Price

"We knew Alonso was a very good player and as a result he had a good price (on his head). We had offers, but they were not enough so we decided he needed to stay with us," said the Spanish coach.

"It could be that he does stay with us.

"For me it is not a problem if he stays or not. He can stay, we always have felt he is a good player.

"We are only talking about a very, very good price. He is a good player, if he is not going to bring a good price then it is very simple, easy to understand.

"I heard the crowd, obviously. We know now, as we knew before, that he could stay with us."

Possibilities

Benitez needs to sell in order to fund any potential bid for Barry and admits that there are likely to be changes within the Reds camp before the new season gets underway.

"It is not positive that we may not have the players we want here before the Champions League game," he said.

"But the transfer window closes at the end of August, we will try to do our best to bring in the players to improve us by then.

"I try to do the best for my club with the possibilities that you have, I have done this every year since I have been here. And I am trying to do the same for this coming season.

"I do not feel any more pressure, every season is the same. We have a good squad, better than before, but we can improve a little bit more."
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The speculation continues.

It just never, ever, ends does it?

 

It's much easier if you only read the quotes and ignore the article, then you don't get the spin the media put on things. Granted you don't always get the full quote but it's better than some of the rubbish newspapers write.

i can t wait to wednesday 'cos if alonso is still with us he will be cup tied.

i can t wait to wednesday 'cos if alonso is still with us he will be cup tied.

Are players who register for the champions league at earlier qualifying phases automatically cup-tied for the rest of the tournament? Don't they have to re-register for the group stages? Just asking, I'm not too sure on this. If it means Xabi being cup-tied by Wednesday and would deter buyers for now than that's great! Thanks for the heads up clint heh.

I really wouldn't be surprised to see Plessis and Spearing take the midfield slots on Wednesday with Carra behind them in front of Hoops and Agger. Xabi on the bench. Sounds like Rafa wants to keep hs options open.

Becoming a little annoyed with this especially if rafa really said the part in bold. I hope he didnt because Alonso must feel like crap hearing that. All this for bloody Gareth Barry, its worse than madrid with ronaldo.

he wont leave, if he was going to leave then he would have done so by now. he would not have been included in the pre-season games and any chance that there was of him leaving has been scuppered by gerrards injury. alonso will play against liege and become cup tied which will put off any of the top teams after him.

Just when you taught Alonso was definately staying put.Would they ever  f**k off and speculate about Arse Manure Or Chelski.

 http://www.skysports.com/story/0,19528,11661_3955304,00.html

Liverpool boss Rafa Benitez has refused to rule out the possibility of selling Xabi Alonso.
The Spain international appears to have become the victim of the Reds' continued pursuit of Aston Villa midfielder Gareth Barry.
He has the full support of the Anfield faithful, though, who backed him throughout Friday's friendly against Lazio, while also displaying their opposition towards any move for Barry.
However, Benitez appears to have turned a deaf ear to the views from the terraces, admitting that a suitable offer could yet see him part with a popular member of his squad.
Price
"We knew Alonso was a very good player and as a result he had a good price (on his head). We had offers, but they were not enough so we decided he needed to stay with us," said the Spanish coach.
"It could be that he does stay with us.
"For me it is not a problem if he stays or not. He can stay, we always have felt he is a good player.
"We are only talking about a very, very good price. He is a good player, if he is not going to bring a good price then it is very simple, easy to understand.
"I heard the crowd, obviously. We know now, as we knew before, that he could stay with us."
Possibilities
Benitez needs to sell in order to fund any potential bid for Barry and admits that there are likely to be changes within the Reds camp before the new season gets underway.
"It is not positive that we may not have the players we want here before the Champions League game," he said.
"But the transfer window closes at the end of August, we will try to do our best to bring in the players to improve us by then.
"I try to do the best for my club with the possibilities that you have, I have done this every year since I have been here. And I am trying to do the same for this coming season.
"I do not feel any more pressure, every season is the same. We have a good squad, better than before, but we can improve a little bit more."

he wont leave, if he was going to leave then he would have done so by now. he would not have been included in the pre-season games and any chance that there was of him leaving has been scuppered by gerrards injury. alonso will play against liege and become cup tied which will put off any of the top teams after him.

I hope yout right. The only thing annoying me is that it seems we have an attitude of 'he can stay but if an offer that will be enough for us to buy barry comes in he is out of here in a shot'. Its not very nice considering, he has stated many times he wants to stay its like he's being forced out if enough for his 'replacement' comes in. I dont know whether rafa actuallly said it doesnt matter to him whether xabi goes or stays or if its a media spin on his words but strangely i hope its the latter.

I feel for Xabi through, this must not be easy to cope with right now especially with some excellent perfomances at the euros and in pres season.

i can t wait to wednesday 'cos if alonso is still with us he will be cup tied.

If he plays...

Becoming a little annoyed with this especially if rafa really said the part in bold. I hope he didnt because Alonso must feel like crap hearing that. All this for bloody Gareth Barry, its worse than madrid with ronaldo.

You really cant blame Rafa Benitez. There must be something he sees in Gareth Barry.

We the fan probably have the smokescreen of sentiments towards Alonso! clouding our vision. Just look at it this way, Rafa Benitez, Alonso compatriot, must really be putting the interest of the club ahead of sentiments towards any player!

If the BArry deal goes through at the expense of Alonso, We may all have to thank him later when we see the impact of Barry's introduction into the team. I, for one, want the best for LFC, plus we need to meet the english player quota.

You really cant blame Rafa Benitez. There must be something he sees in Gareth Barry.

We the fan probably have the smokescreen of sentiments towards Alonso! clouding our vision. Just look at it this way, Rafa Benitez, Alonso compatriot, must really be putting the interest of the club ahead of sentiments towards any player!

If the BArry deal goes through at the expense of Alonso, We may all have to thank him later when we see the impact of Barry's introduction into the team. I, for one, want the best for LFC, plus we need to meet the english player quota.

Yeah i want the best for the club aswell. The english quota thing i just ignore because as i said when it was first brought up, you wont see any teams going out of their way to buy english, just to meet it, and we didnt. Im not blaming rafa, i just feel its something he shouldnt have said to the press (if he did say that). It just seems to make it sound like he's not fussed if Alonso's here or not. Anyway i dont care anymore im tired of all this if we want to sell Alonso for Barry than so be it, i'll just wait and see what happens, im tired of getting into disagreements with our own fans over this. I have one concern going into the new season which i have had for a while and that is a lack of left sided width, i could be completely wrong i'll just wait and see.

Im not blaming anyone i just think its unfair on Alonso thats all, maybe im wrong and its not unfair on him and he deserves it, i dont know.

If he plays...

If he doesn't play we have a big problem 'cos we are without masch. lucas (olympicis) gerrard injured, alonso on the bench therefore we will choose spearing and plessis in the middle. or play 4-3-3.

Now that the barry transfer looks to be over Xabi will stay for sure