According to this afternoon’s Liverpool Echo, Birmingham’s Jermaine Pennant will become a Liverpool player later today, assuming he successfully completes a medical. The paper says that club doctor Mark Waller delayed his own journey to Switzerland to oversee Pennant’s medical.
The 23-year-old former Arsenal star is to sign for a fee now being quoted of £6million, £1.5million of which is going to be given to Arsenal as their share of any future sell-on fees. Although it’s more than Rafael Benitez really wanted to pay, he probably didn’t want to wait any longer for a right-winger, after finally giving up on Daniel Alves.
The Echo also say that Rafa won’t be able to put in a reasonable bid for Dutch unless he offloads “several more” players from the squad to generate some funds. Jerzy Dudek could be one of those on his way out, after Liverpool provided his fellow “second choice” keeper Scott Carson with a new five-year contract, keeping him at Anfield until 2011. Carson had always been seen as the long-term successor to Reina, along with David Martin, and Dudek’s days are numbered – as long as a decent fee is forthcoming. The paper quotes Portsmouth offering £1.5m.
Young winger Paul Anderson’s exciting performances have earned him rave reviews from all those seeing him in action. In fact it’s not just rave reviews he’s earned, he also been handed an improved contract as recognition of his outstanding potential. His new deal takes him up to 2010.