News about the possible departure of one player dominated what should have been a fairly exciting day for Liverpool fans following news of a successful bid for the purchase of another.
The Reds had finally agreed a deal with Ajax to make Luis Suarez a Liverpool player.
A bid from Chelsea for Fernando Torres, who eventually put a transfer request in, was the only talking point on Friday for Liverpool fans, for all but a couple of hours. Liverpool turned his request down and made it very clear in a late-night statement that he wasn’t for sale.
But a statement released by Liverpool FC at around 5pm was about a player Liverpool fans will definitely be talking about for the rest of this season and – we hope – many more seasons to come.
Suarez still has to undergo a medical, but personal terms are now believed to have been agreed.
The Uruguayan international, who turned 24 on Monday, will cost Liverpool up to €26.5m (£22.8m). This will be a new club record for the Reds beating the £21m ultimately paid for Torres.
As it stands it means the Reds are on target to actually spend more on transfer fees than they bring back in for the first transfer window since summer 2008. Ryan Babel was sold to Hoffenheim earlier in the week for a fee believed to be in the region of £6m.
Liverpool themselves had a bid turned down by Blackpool for Charlie Adam. Blackpool manager Ian Holloway has ensured the world knows about Liverpool’s interest, criticising the Reds’ earlier bid of £4.5m. That has now been upped to £6.5m but Blackpool are still not happy with the amount.
The player’s father, also called Charlie, described Blackpool CEO Karl Oyston as “petty” for the way he’s gone about dealing with Liverpool’s interest in signing his son.
Charlie Snr said: “Blackpool are such a cheap-skate club, I don’t even think this is about money.
“It’s because Charlie took them to a tribunal over the bonus they owed him. This is their pay-back. They are saying ‘you won’t make anything out of this; we have got you under contract’.
“Liverpool’s offer is thirteen times what Blackpool paid for Charles and they are turning it down?
“They have been more than compensated for him already.
“Mr Oyston has got to realise it is somebody’s life and future that he is dealing with here. I think it is petty. This should be a time for common sense to prevail.”
Obviously Blackpool have the right to refuse all bids for Adam, they have him under contract, but it seems a guaranteed way of upsetting morale at a club where goodwill is vital. Especially after the club made it known they were willing to sell him to the right club at the right price.
Earlier this week it was suggested that Liverpool director of football strategy Damien Comolli contacted Blackpool to ask just what the “right price” was – with Karl Oyston refusing to say.
Comolli will keep plugging away until the close of the transfer window is to near to make it feasible to do the deal, but that window closes late on Monday night.
His capture of Luis Suarez, for a fee well below that said to have been quoted as the asking price from Ajax, suggests he will work hard to land the signings he and Kenny Dalglish feel are required.