As Craig Bellamy reportedly cuts short his holiday to fly from Greece and speak to Rafael Benitez, developments in Germany today could have an impact on another Liverpool striking target. Bellamy is desperate to impress Rafa Benitez and so earn his dream move to Anfield.
With both teams already qualified for the next stage, Holland and Argentina are only playing for the group winner’s spot. Dutch coach Marco van Basten is therefore expected to give a runout to some of his other players, including Feyenoord striker Dirk Kuyt and Liverpool’s right wing-back Jan Kromkamp. Kromkamp is said to be hoping for a move back to Holland after the World Cup, Liverpool are looking at bringing Kuyt to Anfield as one of the two new strikers they are aiming for.
Reports (which may be deliberately misleading) coming from Anfield are that Liverpool won’t be buying both Kuyt and Bellamy without making money from sales first. With a bid already made, Bellamy looks set to be the player bought if Rafa can afford only one. Kromkamp’s performance today may just tip the scales in his favour for that move back home and would help Liverpool to raise those funds. A good performance from Kuyt could also see his value rise.
However the feeling is that Liverpool have already agreed a fee with Feyenoord for Kuyt, believed to be in the region of £10m. Kuyt’s preference was always for the Champions League football on offer from Liverpool. Djibril Cisse’s sale would have paid the biggest part of that fee, but now he’s only moving on loan some reshuffling of finances will need to be done.
Finally for now on the transfer front, we are hearing that the move by the Reds to sign Daniel Alves from Sevilla is very close to a conclusion. The gap between the two club’s valuations of the player is now all but closed. The player clearly wants to become a Red and Sevilla will allow the deal to go ahead before the end of the month.