It would appear Scott Carson’s departure from Anfield, which has been assumed since last summer (albeit, then, to Villa) is finally on cusp of finally actually happening. Reports are that LFC have agreed upon a £4 million fee and the young ‘keeper has ironed out personal terms with the newly promoted club.
But, hold the phone. It would appear that fellow Premier League new boys (and occasional yo-yo club), West Brom, may try their luck at scuppering the deal by swooping in with their own bid.
At what point does Scott just break down in tears and cry out, “I just want a permanent home. Won’t somebody please give me a home?!!”?
My thoughts on this Carson business are two-fold…
Firstly, I think he deserves much better than a club who’s already staring down the barrel of the relegation gun. I find it highly amusing that he seems to have become damaged goods simply because of a dip in form (termed a ‘confidence crisis’ in some places) during the latter part of the season, obviously in connection with his role in England’s summer demise.
An England-less Euro 2008 was not the kid’s fault. The blame for England’s failure to qualify is spread over many matches in which young Carson did not feature. But to think that he’s now psychologically ruined and can’t/won’t quickly return to the form that helped Aston Villa secure a sixth place finish is mind-boggling.
Or just plain retarded.
He’ll bounce back. While he’ll likely face competition from Joe Hart (and maybe Robert Green) down the road, he’s going to be England’s #1.
This brings me to thought number two… the price. £4M is a fucking STEAL. Now, maybe with West Brom’s interest, the price could be escaladed in some sort of bidding battle, but since four million would be a record lay-out for Stoke, that may not be the case. Obviously, as I’ve written previously, I value Carson at easily double that amount.
As our deadbeat owners seemingly can’t cough up the necessary cash in order properly wag war with our rivals in the transfer market, Rafa is forced to scrap up the sterling the only way he can — by selling. So, what should have been a £10M(ish) transfer to Villa is now a £4 to Stoke/WBA (or maybe even ‘Boro?). Frankly, it’s rather sad — for both Scott and Liverpool.
In other transfer ‘news’, Xabi Alonso may be staying after all. And not because Momo Sissoko says he talked with the Spainard who told him he wants to stay, but because Juventus just brought in another holding midfielder for roughly half what they were going to pay for Alonso. The Old Lady nailed down the transfer of Sevilla’s Christian Poulsen (His name… was Christian Poulsen. His name was Christian Poulson!) for £8M(ish). With Sissoko and Poulsen on the books, it would appear unlikely that Claudio Ranieri would need another deep-lying midfielder.
But, Rafa asked us to ‘trust’ him. And I do.
So, while I wonder where the cheddar will come from for further transfer treats, I eagerly await the Gaffa’s next magic trick. Because, it would appear it’s going to take something supernatural to bring in top talent.
being sven 
What effect does this development in the Alonso saga have on the Barry transfer? Any?
Quite frankly, one has to wonder where the cash for our summer targets will come from…
Let’s say there are two big target expenditures — Barry and ‘Striker’ (for the sake of arguement, we’ll say that it’s Robbie Keane… this week).
Word in the papers is that Martin O’Neill wants 18M for Barry. We could even say LFC might pony up 16M and Steve Finnan (doubtful that gets accepted, but nonetheless…).
Keane is easily 17M, though ‘valued’ (*rolls eyes*) at 20 large.
Alonso was slated to bring in 14-16M. Now, unless there’s somebody lurking in the shadows (remember when Barca was sniffing around?), it looks as if that money isn’t coming in. So, we’ve got an possible outlay of 32-some million pounds for two potential targets, half of which was, but no longer is, to be subsidised by Alsono’s departure.
*shrug* Don’t get me wrong, I love Xabi, but him staying (which at this point is just as likely as him leaving… who really knows?) means it could be a really underwhelming summer.
Who’s left to sell? Pennant? He might fetch anywhere from 3 to 5 mil (likely on the lesser side of that).
Maybe Rafa is sitting on cash, but is shrewdly acting as if he doesn’t have it. While I highly doubt this is the case, I like the idea as he knows bigger clubs get held to ransom fees b/c of their deeper pockets. Maybe he’s acting the pauper in hopes of lowering expectations. HIGHLY unlikely that this is the case, but an interesting alternative reality.
So, we’ll see what happens with Gareth Barry. Especially now that Martin O’Neill seems to have upped the ante by mentioning that Arsenal are sniffing around. Nevermind that Wenger paying 18M for a 27-year old seems completely opposite of his well-practised transfer policy, but…
I think Arsene may be “gaming” us like we are hoping Rafa is “gaming” others…Buying a 27-year-old for that much flies in the face of everything he’s ever done. I just can’t see him pulling the trigger on that. I’m on the fence about the Xabi ordeal…My buddy, a Juve fan, and I were talking the other day, and the whole thing depends on who you get: “Euro2008, Effective Mid-fielder” Xabi or “2007-2008 Prem, Perpetually Injured and Not-on-the-Squad” Xabi. I wouldn’t mind hanging on to the former, but there isn’t much use for the latter. Nemeth hasn’t been bad so far in the U19s…Maybe he could be part of the solution at striker?