Rumour Mill: Liverpool to sign £10M-rated Senegal forward

Amid the Luis Suarez saga, Liverpool has been shortage of fire-power upfront for the next six matches. Report of Darren Bent has been signed for Liverpool still dominating the internet rumour mills.

But there is a new twist and Liverpool has been monitoring the progress of Newcastle’s striker, Demba Ba after it was claimed the Senegal striker has a £10million release clause in his contract.

A £10million bid is needed to allow the Premier League’s in-form striker to speak to other clubs.

Newcastle chiefs were hoping the contract detail would not become public and they now expect top clubs to consider making offers.

However, any transfer will have to wait until the end of the season, as he will be away on Africa Cup of Nations duty.

Newcastle sources insist the player is happy on Tyneside and Pardew has refused to discuss the possibility of him leaving.

This story has been reproduced from the media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club or Red's Fury™ blog.

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Loan Watch: Joe Cole hat-trick for Lille

Joe Cole fired a hat-trick as Lille beat Chantilly 6-0 to reach the last 32 of the French Cup on Saturday night.

The on-loan Liverpool midfielder has had a fine season with the French outfit and scored in the 22nd, 59th and 65th minute.

Source: FootyTube

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The Verdict on Stewart Downing

When you sign a proven premier league player worth twenty million pounds, you are expecting him to run riot from the beginning.That is just a natural footballing instinct.Firstly, the market for British players is inflated and a joke to say the least. And secondly,I put ‘overall contribution to the football team’ over goals when it comes to a midfielder. Patrick Viera, Roy Keane, if you get my drift.

The jury has been out on Stewart Downing and will continue to do so for as long as he plays for Liverpool Football Club. The Liverpool fans need to understand that Downing will not get you 10-15 goals a season.That is the empirical truth.He is not a prolific scorer.This is a flaw in his game and from what I have observed,he is not going to get any better.Here are the statistics- Middlesbrough 181 appearances 17 goals, Aston Villa 63 appearances 9 goals. So,on an average he will fetch you a goal every 9 games. He is not the greatest English winger to have graced a football field but he is definitely not as bad as he is brandished to be.

Stewart Downing is a good footballer. He has a great work-ethic. He has the ability to drift past defenders.His positional sense on the pitch is immaculate. He has a lethal left-foot and a decent right foot too. He defends his wing-backs well. How often do you see Glen Johnson getting caught out? Liverpool fans have failed to recognize the defensive aspect of Downing’s game. Downing has moulded himself into the Liverpool set-up very well. Downing is a primarily a winger that will provide you goals. Apart from Luis Suarez there is nobody to finish off those chances. You need a Raul Gonzalez, Robbie Fowler, Henrik Larsson or Ruud Van Nistelrooy to derive the best out of Stewart Downing. Until Liverpool buy that quality striker all of Downing’s good work will go unsung.

I rate Stewart Downing highly and still believe that he will be a brilliant signing.

Final Verdict – Is Juan Mata better than Stewart Downing ? – Yes but Mata is poor defensively if you observe a Chelsea game closely. So apples and oranges.

Written by Mayank Adhye, who blogs at The Musical Escapade and also a Reds supporter.

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FA Cup: Liverpool 5-1 Oldham Athletic

Whoever were unable to watch the match live on TV can watch this goal highlights by sportnetworld at Videa.

The Latics made a plucky start to the contest and having gone close on several occasions, they opened the scoring in the 28^th minute courtesy of Robbie Simpson's dipping volley from distance.

Liverpool comeback from behind to win this tie, goals from Bellamy and Gerrard’s penalty before half-time making sure the Reds are in the driving seat at half-time. In the second half, Liverpool pressed on with goals from Shelvey, Carroll and Downing to capped off a magnificent performance of the night.

* By pressing play on the video, you’ve agreed with the English FA rules and regulations on its broadcasting. This video is googled and for personal viewing only. Red's Fury™ does not host or upload this material and is not responsible for the content.

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FA Cup 3rd Round Preview: Liverpool v Oldham Athletic

Team news for tonight's FA Cup third-round clash between Liverpool and Oldham Athletic at Anfield (kick-off 8pm).

The visit of the League One outfit affords Dalglish the opportunity to tinker with the side that lost 3-0 to Manchester City midweek and he is likely to recall defenders Jamie Carragher and Sebastian Coates.

Striker Luis Suarez serves the second game of an eight-match ban, but captain Steven Gerrard will probably be given another chance to continue building up his sharpness having made three substitute appearances following his comeback from an ankle infection.

Oldham, though, will sense an occasion to cause an upset and manager Paul Dickov hopes his club, who are currently contesting their 15th consecutive season in the third division, do not suffer from stage fright.

Oldham, meanwhile, are likely to have on-loan trio Luca Scapuzzi, Tom Adeyemi and Nathan Clarke available.

Although their loan deals have expired, manager Paul Dickov is confident he will have wrapped up new deals before the game, while midfielder James Wesolowski could return to the starting line-up after recovering from a dislocated shoulder.

Top scorer Shefki Kuqi could be given the nod ahead of Matt Smith.

Fifty-two places separate Liverpool and Oldham in the Football League and they have not met since 1994 during the latter's last season in the Premier League, which would suggest a comfortable win for the Reds.

But Dalglish's side have struggled at home this season and, despite remaining unbeaten, have drawn six games at Anfield, with a running trend being wasted chances and the inability to kill-off supposedly lesser opposition.

There is then some feeling Oldham could call on the old-fashioned FA Cup magic, but Dalglish is still expected to rotate his squad and the strength in depth at his disposal is an example of the gulf between the two clubs.

Red's Fury™ Prediction: Liverpool 2-0 Oldham

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Liverpool sign England international forward

The news on Liverpool FC transfer deal has been spreading like wildfire on the internet. Coupled with SkyBet have suspended betting on Aston Villa and England international forward, Darren Bent to Liverpool.

The England international, 27, emerged as a surprise target for Liverpool and it appears that a move has already been finalised.

From an unreliable source on Twitter, an user claimed to be Darren Anderson, a columnist for Mirror has tweeted, “An Anfield source says Darren Bent's move to Liverpool is done.”

Aston Villa manager Alex McLeish had previously ruled out a potential switch for Bent in the January window with the forward only joining the club 12-months ago from Sunderland for £18million.

This story has been reproduced from the media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club or Red's Fury™ blog.

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LFC: Striker Needed

By guest writer: Jamie McLaughlin

I watched the Liverpool match the other night against Manchester City and although I think they played well enough, they were seriously lacking as an attacking force. The ban on Suarez is going to be a real problem, and you could see that there was a lack of movement or options with Carroll playing a lone striking role.

I am not having a go at Andy Carroll, but if Liverpool want to play the big man up front I believe he needs a playing partner alongside him. Carroll doesn’t have the pace or movement to terrify defenders, so he needs some support, because he is good at holding the ball up and winning headers.

Liverpool have very few options in attack, they have Carroll who has struggled to score so far, Dirk Kuyt is another option, or Bellamy who has a lot of pace which could be their best option. The fit again Gerrard could play just behind a lone striker or Shelvey, who played this role against Aston Villa.

But the options are very few with or without Suarez and Liverpool should be looking to bring another striker in this January, because it is imperative that they finish in the top four this season or they could drift away from being a top four club as the gap could widen.

Liverpool are in a decent position in the League at the moment, within striking distance of the top four, but with a lack of firepower, this could be a serious problem for the rest of the season. To be fair, scoring goals has been a problem all season, with so many chances spurned from the Anfield side, but the problem will be greater, especially with the absence of the influential Suarez.

Out of the attackers Liverpool have at their disposal, Craig Bellamy has looked the most likely to score. Kuyt has been struggling to get a game and hasn’t scored all season after finishing top scorer last season and Andy Carroll has struggled to fit in to the Liverpool style of play. The team can’t depend on the superb defence to limit the opposition all the time as the attackers struggle to score.

January is historically a difficult month to bring new players in, but Liverpool should be scouring the planet for another striker, or this season could drift away after so much promise. We will just have to watch this space for the next month and hope Liverpool can bring a much needed striker in to bring success this season.

Written by Jamie McLaughlin, who writes for Anfield News

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Rumour Mill: Is Wigan striker answer to Liverpool scoring problem?

Top Premier League clubs including Tottenham, Liverpool and Sunderland have been the alerted to the availability of Wigan's Victor Moses, after the winger's agent revealed that talks over a new contract have stalled.

Liverpool has been courting the Nigerian-born England Under-19 international last season when he was with Crystal Palace.

Moses has been one of the Latics star performers in the last six months, having only previously shown flashes of his ability following a much hyped transfer from Crystal Palace in January 2010.

As his stock has continued to rise, Wigan manager Roberto Martinez opened talks over a new deal just over a month ago, but despite initial contact being made, the negotiations have since stalled, much to the frustration of his agent Tony Finnigan.

   “We talked to Wigan about a contract five weeks ago but still haven't seen anything,”

“My phone goes all the time. Victor's got his admirers out there,” – Finnigan explained.

Wigan would be hopeful they could fend off interest from Sunderland, but should Spurs, Liverpool, or even Chelsea, who have all previously scouted Moses, come calling, it would be a different matter.

A bid of around £8 million would almost certainly convince Martinez to sell, as he plots a January reshuffle of his squad, to aid his sides battle against relegation.

This story has been reproduced from the media. It does not necessarily represent the position of Liverpool Football Club or Red's Fury™ blog.

Source: Metro

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