AA was on what, 70,000 or 80,000 depending what you believe. Under FSG we aren't going to pay that to a bit player. If Kenny thought AA would be a regular starter it would be one thing, but otherwise that is simply wages that can be used to pay for multiple young talents or one or more first teamers.And this isn't about whether AA was good enough to be a 1st team regular, that is a whole different debate, the fact is under Kenny he wasn't going to be.Raul was different. By all accounts his wages were about half of AAs. As such that is OK for a squad member and regular off the bench type player. Howver he wanted a big pay increase, which he had been promised by the previous regime. We wouldn't pay it because it would have put us in the same situation as with AA. Chelsea would pay it. He wanted a move. We really didn't want to sell to him as he was a good squad player, and in particular we didn't want to sell to Chelsea. However he insisted, so we made him put in a transfer request to ensure we got all the money for him. If Gerrard and Bellamy get and stay fit, we won't miss him at all (and I was a big Raul fan). If however both are injured we may wonder about it if we get a run of 0-0 results when teams just frustrate us and we need something different off the bench.
Just been looking at the list and I've only realised Stevie Irwin has been released.
1. You've had time to reflect on your work in the transfer window - how pleased are you in terms of the movement of players both in and out of the club? 2. How successful were we in signing the transfer targets we pinpointed at the start of the summer? 3. How many people from within the club are involved in the process of a transfer from start to finish and what are their different roles?? 4. How big is your scouting network and can you give us an idea of how the scouting process works and how it is coordinated? 5. You expressed in a recent interview following the closure of the window that you had explained to the owners incoming players would have to precede outgoing players. How did you convince the owners to accept this, how accepting were they and what was the reason for this approach?6. How much of an input does the manager and his coaching staff have in any decision to sign a particular player?7. Do you speak with the captain or other players about transfer targets? 8. Why was Raul Meireles allowed to leave the club to sign for one of our rivals?9. Why was Alberto Aquilani allowed to leave on loan when he had impressed during pre-season?10. Is it true that we have first refusal on Eden Hazard as part of the loan deal for Joe Cole?11. Why have we loaned out Dani Pacheco?12. Clearly the squad has improved over recent months - but are there areas you are already targeting as needing further strengthening? 13/ People doubted whether a Director of Football would work at Liverpool - tell us how your relationship has been with Kenny Dalglish during this transfer window....
