2014-08-25 20:03#191800 AaronHJFT96 : Hey guys, sorry for the lack of updates! I've been in Liverpool for a few days which seems to have given me a lot more motivation to write! Next update should be out tomorrow, cheers
Jordan Rossiter - Beat The Rest, Become The Best
Some might like to say that living the life of a professional footballer would be a dream, and that is certainly the case for young Scouser, Jordan Rossiter. A boy brimming with confidence, Rossiter has been labelled by many as the successor to Steven Gerrard. Gerrard himself actually told the BBC that his "Successor" would be ten times the player he was and is.
The Liverpudlian had a great season last year, despite not playing many Premier League games, his cup success will have him delighted as he sent Liverpool into the Capital One Cup final against West brom. The Reds went onto win the competition against Stoke City, a game in which he didn't play.
He made a couple of important European appearances as well, playing in the semi final of the Champions League, a game he put a solid performance in. He appeared 3-4 times in the group stages and replaced Florenzi late on in the Champions league final which the Reds went on to win 3-1 against English rivals Manchester City.
His most notable performance though, was undoubtedly the FA Cup final. A game which the Reds dominated, yet stayed on the back foot right up to the final kick of the game. Rossiter put in a man of the match performance as he scored the winning penalty in a shoot out, after Florenzi's last minute equalizer.
After a dazzling year for himself and Liverpool, the 18 year old has signed a new long term deal with the club and will reportedly be paid 15K p/w. After he signed the contract, he and his manager had a few words to say.
Gerrard: "I'm so happy Jordan's so committed to the club as I was, and still am. He already reminds me of myself at a slightly older age, and I'm always seeing bits of myself in him. The movement, passes, and powerful long shots...It's like having a better version of myself in front of me, if I'm honest there have been times in training where I've thought "Maybe I could have tried that in my younger days".
He's constantly learning, but he's constantly teaching others despite his young age. He has the right profile to become a fantastic player here at Liverpool, maybe even a fantastic captain. Will he go on to be a usual in the national side? I think so. He's got the right mentality to be a great player, and a super Captain, I can't wait till he's a little older and he can maybe break into the first team on a consistent basis.
Who knows, maybe he'll play so well next year, he keeps others out of the team. You just never know."
Rossiter: "It's honestly a dream come true to have played in the games I have, especially for a club like this. Liverpool is a club I've always supported from a young age, I started following them at the age of 6-7, or so I'm told, I can't really remember much from back then. I can most definitely say I never thought I'd play for them though. Never in my life did I expect this.
It's good to have gotten some vital experience last season, and I think that now I can push on and kick start what we'll hopefully be a great career for me. I think I'm a little lucky too, most people my age are getting loaned out or released, so it's good to have a manager like Gerrard who WILL put faith in his younger players despite having the likes of Henderson, Suarez, Insigne and much more in the squad.
It's been my dream play for Liverpool at least once, and now that that's over with, the stage is set for me to be a Liverpool great, and that's something I want to be. I want to beat the rest, and be the best there has ever been here at Liverpool, and I am so determined to make that happen.
It's not a personal goal of mine to play for England, although it would be amazing too. Of course if I was ever to play in a World Cup game or a friendly I'd put my heart and soul into my performance, but what I'm focused on now is bringing joy to the Liverpool fans."
Well, confidence oozes from this young Scouser, but the question is, do you think he can become a legend at Liverpool? Well, LFC TV posted up a poll on twitter and the results were fairly one sided.
81% of the people who answered thought he would be a success with the reds, and the other 19% answered with "No, he won't be successful".
How well do you think Jordan Rossiter will do?
Liverpool Announce Fixtures For Coming Pre-Season
Gerrard rallying the lads after conceding a late goal to Manchester United
Liverpool have flourished under the management of Steven Gerrard after he took over at the start of last season. His side brought in two trophies under Brendan Rodgers the season before, but in his first season in charge, his boyhood club have collected seven out of seven possible competitions.
Now though, is the time to think ahead, to keep moving forward. Gerrard's aims will be to make sure that last season was no one off, and that his team continue to dominate World football. Firstly though, they must start with the pre-season of the 2015-16 season, and the fixtures have already been released by the Reds.
Yes, liverpool have four games lined up for this years pre-season, and Liverpool fans will almost certainly be happy with the last one. Firstly, the Reds will take on Saint-Lo in their first game of their tour of France, and then they shall be traveling to SC Selongey. Lastly in their tour, they will take on the lovely town of Vannes OC.
The fourth and final game though, is a significant one which will see plenty of World-Class talent play with and against each other. Yes, FC Barcelona will be traveling to England to play in Pepe Reina's testimonial game.
This game will be played right before the Community shield final against Manchester United, which itself comes before three games against Chelsea, Arsenal and United again as well as Inter Milan in the Super cup.
Nothing like a hard start to a season, but if Liverpool are what they claim they are, they should have no trouble battling through this tough run of games.
Liverpool Set The Standard Early
Verratti notched a total of eight goals for Paris Saint Germain, and four assists. Not the best, but certainly a step up from Florenzi's one goal last season.
So, you may have already guessed it...Yes. Marco Verratti from Paris Saint Germain will be joining the Reds in a quietly kept and surprising transfer. The Italian himself has said absolutely nothing on the matter until today, and the same goes for Gerrard and Liverpool. This must be one of the quickest and most secretly kept transfers to ever occur in modern football.
Liverpool, officially announced that their new signing would be joining in a few days on twitter, after he had penned the contract which should keep him at Anfield until 2020. A deal which also includes a 53K pay check at the end of each week. That pay check will most likely rise a lot as well. The Italian has been given an appearance bonus of 8K and an unused subs fee of 2K.
Last season, Verratti helped his team onto a second placed finish in Ligue 1. They finished behind rivals Monaco, who finished with a massive 13 point gap between themselves and the capital city based club.
His previous team won the French Cup last year though with a 3-0 win against Caen in the final game of the season. They were knocked out early in the Coupe De France, and exited the Champions League in the quarter final stages as a result of a loss to Liverpool over two legs, who has you know, went on to win the competition for the second time in a row.
Verratti took his goal tally up to a total of eight, and a not so high total of four in the assists department.
Verratti has been speaking to many journalists, and reporters. Here is what he said to us just after he left Melwood after signing his contract.
"I can't tell you how happy I am to be signing for Liverpool! Really, I can't. I am joining possibly the best club in the World right now, and if I am honest...I am in complete disbelief. Me playing for the best club in the World? I never, ever thought of that as a possibility. I've played for some good teams, but not this good. Seven time Champions League winners, 20 times Premier League winners...Or top division winners if you're a Manc and a name means that much to you!!
I look forward to working with some of the top class talent here, and most of all I can't wait to work with Steven Gerrard. One of the greatest players to ever grace the Premier League. He has some good ideas, a good philosophy, and more importantly he is probably the biggest player to ever have played for Liverpool."
Verratti does join Liverpool on quite a small fee. So small, that some of the die hard PSG supporters have been protesting outside of the stadium. £12.75M is the fee he joins for. A decent amount really. But obviously, the fans of PSG are not in agreement and are angered by the transfer.
So, Verratti's joining the Reds, but who else could sign for them this summer? Well, Liverpool have been strongly linked to buying a new goalkeeper. Especially that of Marc Ter Stegen who's put in some blistering performances over the past year.
Leaving the club though, we find that Daniel Sturridge, Jose Enrique and Daniel Agger could be leaving the club they've all spent so long at. Simon Mignolet is another that we expect to leave if Liverpool do pick up a new keeper.
Reds Look forward With Expansion Plans
Anfield: Among the loudest and most historic stadiums in Europe, and it's about to get bigger.
Early this morning, Liverpool football club officially announced on twitter that they had a huge announcement to make, and boy were we delighted to hear it when they finally told the World that they'd finally been given the go ahead to expand Anfield.
Liverpool have been looking to expand their home stadium for the last two or three years, but every time they've come near to a breakthrough, they have unfortunately been stopped by certain technicalities in planning permissions.
Some of the houses that were set to be knocked down years ago, still stand around Everton. Reason being, most of the home owners have refused to leave behind their homes and move away. Although, we're not so confident that's the reason. It's gotta be those pesky Evertonians at it again...Surely?
Well, maybe so but they have been unsuccessful in their attempts to hinder Anfields expansion, and their houses will have been brought to the ground by the end of this week, as architects and builders come together and set work on the Reds' hive.
There hasn't been an official number stated as to how many seats will be added, or how much the maximum capacity will be, but at an estimate...We believe that being the richest club in the World should help them grow to a capacity of 65-70K. 75K if we're lucky, 80K, as a 5% chance.
Fans have been quick to voice their opinions, and not just the Liverpool fans. Dortmund fans, Barcelona fans, and even Everton fans have been showing their excitement at seeing Anfield becoming one of the bigger stadiums in England.
@TheBlindRef: @LFC @John W.Henry Well in FSG! Anfield Can finally grow...And personally, I cannot wait! #YNWA
@Dortmund_96: @LFC Liverpool...The biggest club in the World is about to get bigger. And to think they finished 8th three years ago...
@TheBainesToMyColeman: @LFC Even as a rival, I can only look forward to Anfield becoming even bigger. I hate to admit it, but this can only backup the opinion of Liverpool being the greatest in the World. #Anfield #Liverpool #Rivals
Some strongly oppinionated fans and rivals there, but the man you'll all be wanting to hear from is of course Steven Gerrard, and yes we did get his thoughts. He's like a kid at Christmas this man...
"I have to thank the board for finally setting the record straight. I must also thank the families and home owners out side of Anfield for their cooporation too. John and the rest of the board have put everything into this and finally we have something to show for all of their hard work. It's not down to me or the players, this is down to them. They've been fantastic.
Right now, I'd go as far as to say we are the best club in the World right now, and this can only make us bigger and better. I've had to play in this stadium for over 17 years, it's always been the same. So I am so excited for the newer players to be given the chance to play in the bigger stadium, as it does become frustrating not being able to compete with the likes of the Nou Camp, or the Emirates.
Although, saying that we're usually louder than most places so it's not that bad, but I can't wait to be standing on that touchline in a ram-packed Anfield full of 65-80K fans. It's going to be electric that atmosphere.
Hopefully, I'll be able to play. The building is scheduled to finish in 2017, so we have a few years wait. But I really do hope I can keep coping with the demands of training and matches each week, as well as managing the side. I just want to play in it once, get the feeling. The feeling of something I can treasure forever."
So, with Liverpool about to splash the cash on a huge expansion...Will that give them the confidence to retain the title and Champions League once more? Liverpool fans'll be hoping so. Anyway, to end here is some of the photo's we've been allowed to release.
nice update man! gonna be an incredible atmosphere in there with that many fans!
Stronger, Or Weaker? The Ins and Outs
Final Goodbyes: Daniel Agger captains Liverpool in their penultimate Premier League game of the 2014-15 season against Manchester United. 0-0, the final score.
The transfer window has been pretty bare so far this summer, and if anyone was going to light it up, it would be Liverpool. However, they've lightened it up in the way you wouldn't have expected. Signing five players, and only one of those showing first team quality (Verratti) it looks as though Gerrard is looking for youngsters who can brighten Liverpool's future that little bit extra.
There have been some out going deals to. And some big ones at that. Three of the four players to leave, were probably expected to leave the club but not in such fine fashion. The amount of money that Liverpool have brought in from these three out going players, ensures they will make a profit on the 39.54M they have spent so far.
Now, the first player to leave the club this week was Daniel Sturridge, and for the most money. Sturridge will be joining Ligue 1 side Monaco, where he should be plying his trade for the next five years.
Now, Sturridge hasn't had the greatest career at Liverpool. He started ever so well getting 10 goals in 14 appearances, then he started to slide with 11 goals in 26 appearances. Last season, he made just 4 appearances for Liverpool and scored 1 goal.
So, you really wouldn't expect Liverpool to be getting £26M out of Monaco, but it seems the French side are willing to splash the cash out on Sturridge, and hope for the best. An unbelievably huge amount of money for a player like Sturridge, but none of that will matter to Liverpool, they've just gained more than half the money back that they have spent on players.
The second player to depart Liverpool this summer is Jose Enrique who unlike Daniel Sturridge, has played in a lot of games for the Reds over the last few years, and he's really done well for himself too.
Enrique has been solid in defense for Liverpool in these past two years, he's been a key part to the Liverpool defense, and without him the club might not be able to say they've won as much as they have done under Rodgers and Gerrard.
Enrique leaves to Monaco with Daniel Sturridge, and for a fee of £15.5M...Not too shabby for a 29 year old. Enrique made 118 appearances for his former club and goes down in history as one of the great left backs to play for Liverpool.
Daniel Agger also departs his beloved Liverpool. Over the past ten years, Agger has become one of the most loved and lovable players to play for Liverpool in recent years. Agger signed for the Scousers the season after they had famously won the Champions League in Istanbul.
He went on to make a huge 193 appearances before he made his move to CSKA Moscow in Russia for a £10M fee.
Simon Mignolet hasn't played much at all for Liverpool, and as expected he has left Liverpool as well. Mignolet moves to Zenit after making a not so big one appearance. £4M is the fee, pretty big for someone who's only played once in two years.
Toljan, has appeared 65 times for Hoffenheim. Showing no signs of true quality, he still gets his big money move to the Reds.So, onto signings. Now, as we said there is only one player expected to play regularly for Liverpool out of the five new signings, and that is Marco Verratti. But, who have Liverpool signed, and how can they help the team become better?
Well, after the signing of Marco Verratti, Gerrard got straight to work on looking for more signings, most likely a left back. It didn't take him long to find one, and soon he found himself raiding Hoffenheim for their starting left back Jeremy Toljan.
Toljan who made 65 apps for the Dutch side in three years joins Liverpool for £7M. He's never really shown true signs of becoming as good as Liverpool fans might want him to be, but Gerrard has put a lot of faith in him and they'll be hoping the faith pays off.
He can be a good player, and he now has some World Class talent around him. He'll most likely be backup to Nicola Murru but with a bit of hard work he can definitely get his chances in the first team. And hopefully he takes them.
Now after the departure of Simon Mignolet, Liverpool would be looking for a new goalkeeper to test Reina week in, week out and haven't they just...They've spent a whopping £13M on Timo Horn who has made some outstanding performances for underachievers Koln in the last few years.
Timo doesn't look like he'll start straight away, Reina has been too good. But, like Toljan he will get his chances and when he does we're sure he'll take them. Horn is a fantastic signing and when/if he starts to play ahead of Reina he could be in the starting lineup for years to come.
With the last two signings, it looks as though Liverpool have decided to rummage through the bargain bins for young stars in the making. They've brought in a centre midfielder in Federico Russo, and a centre back in Keziah Veendorp.
Both of these players are 18 and look the real deal. With the right guidance, we can just about assure the World that they will both be the next big thing in the next year or so. They can both be Top class players. It doesn't always work out like that, but Gerrard seems to think they have all the makings of a Premier League star.
So, Liverpool have two 21 year old left backs, and have sold their backup keeper and brought in a younger unproven one. Unproven in the World's best league that is. Are they weaker or stronger than before? Well...Only time will tell.
Pre-season comes first, then it's off to United, West Ham, United (Again), Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Arsenal in their first seven games of the season. It's going to be a real test for them!
good signings: interesting to see how that first 7 games will test the new boys, and how you'll hold up without Dagger....good money brought in though!
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