Its obvious this is one of the areas we need to strengthen. So far I have seen us linked to Jose Enrique Newcastle - I don't rate him, can remember Barton having a real go at him for not putting in the effort the year they went down. Leighton Baines - has had a good season but did anyone see Valencia make up 10 yards on him then throw him into the stand at the weekend! Gael Clichy - has had a poor couple of seasons imo. Last season we were also linked to Maynor Figeroa not sure if we would be interested again this year. There isn't a great selection out there but I think Clichy would represent the best buy but doubt he will give up Champions League football. From what we have Aurelio is permanently injured, not sure if Insua will come back, Konchesky won't be back, Robinson needs time to develop.
Don't see Clichy as a realistic option myself. Think Baines would be a good buy but also wouldnt be surprised to see the Stephen Warnock rumours rise again.
Everyone has their own version of what is a realistic target. According to some: Everton won’t sell us Baines. Coentrao has signed for both Real Madrid and Bayern Munich. Clichy won’t go somewhere without Champions League football. Deal for Enrique from Newcastle is done & dusted. I believe to believe no-one until I see it on the offal, and will champion Coentrao until I hear otherwise. The one worry I would have about a big money signing like him at 23 though, would be the possibility of stunting the progress of Robinson, and I think that is something Comolli or Kenny alluded to in a recent interview. So maybe Enrique does make sense after all.
Think it's unfair to criticize Enrique about his form two years ago when he's been a very consistent left back ever since.
what about that marseille fella taye taiwo? i haven't a clue about him just thought i'd throw his name in the mix, see what the consensus is on him
Watched Blackpool v newcastle And Enrique from Newcastle was poor to average , wouldn't be on my list .
IMO a decent free signing , great going forward but not so sure about his defending a bit like Glen ? Him and Glen as attacking fullbacks if we had centre halfs with speed that can cover would be interesting imo
We have been linked with a number of left backs in the media, Taiwo, Vargas, Lahm, Cissokho, Enrique, Baines, Sakho, Glichy, Gibbs and Warnock. This is where we have been woefully short in recent years, Riise was as goiod a left back as we had in years but his last 18 months was poor. The difficulty you have nowadays is being a good defender just isn't enough any more. Stuart Pearce was the ultimate british left back, great defender who could on occasions rampage forward. Roberto Carlos was one of the worlds best, brillant getting forward and tidy on the ball but not a great defender. What you need nowadays is a blend of both. You need to be just as good at going forward as you do at defending. I have to say I don't know much about Enrique but when I've seen him he hasn't been overly impressive. Gibbs for his age has played very few games at this level so would he be an option? Glichy is very unlikely to switch from Arsenal to us. Warnock was a good stop gap in January but surely the moment has passed for him? Taiwo looked impressive a couple of years back but we have a bad record with Africans and would he step up at this level? Baines would be a great buy but what is the likelihood of crossing Stanley Park to Anfield? The stand out names for ,me are Vargas, Lahm and Sakho. I know very little of Cissokho but he's been around and is highly rated. Vargas looks like a real good player but is certainly more offensive than defensive. From Fiorentina to Liverpool is a step up and unless we get involved in a auction it is a podssible. Lahm seems to be a bit of a fantasy footballing transfer, happy on either foot on either flank. If he's available there will be big teams in EDurope with CL to offer way ahead of us. Sokho would be a great buy, big centre back, can play at left back, with pace and composure on the ball. He is young and for £10m would be value for money. He is certainly a good bet to leave PSG and Liverpool would represent a real step up. He has been highlighted as a future star for a couple of years now. For me there is better value for cash at £15m than Enrique. I hope we tie up our transfer targets early on and by the sounds of it Comolli has highlighted all his targets with the manager so lets get in and get these guys.