' £15m DOUBLE SWOOP '
Wed May 21, 2014 9:17 pm
Weds May 21st 2014
Liverpool set to raid Cardiff City and Swansea City in swoop for Steven Caulker and Michel Vorm
Liverpool are poised to step-up their pursuit of Swansea City goalkeeper Michel Vorm – and are weighing up whether to move for Cardiff City star Steven Caulker as they plot a potential £15m double raid on South Wales.
Former Swans boss Brendan Rodgers is keen on bolstering his Reds squad after guiding the Anfield club back into the Champions League following their shock title challenge.
And it is understood both Vorm and Caulker are on his wish-list as he seeks to improve his options heading into his third season on Merseyside.
Rodgers worked with the pair at Swansea, both signed by the Northern Irishman upon the Liberty club’s top-flight promotion and going to make a major impact in the Swans’ impressive Premier League debut.
Now he could look to reunite the duo at Liverpool with an offer for No.1 Vorm on the cards after already declaring an interest as he looks for a stopper to challenge Simon Mignolet.
Swansea are understood to be ready to listen to offers for the 30-year-old – currently preparing for the World Cup with the Netherlands – and a bid lower than first thought could see him leave the Liberty this summer.
While once-rated at £10m, Swansea could be prepared to accept less as they look towards younger options, including Reading’s Alex McCarthy, while out-of-contract Arsenal FA Cup winner Lukasz Fabianski is in contention.
Vorm has two years left to run on his deal and is one of the highest earners at the Liberty and would be inevitably seeking a pay rise should his contract be extended.
While settled in Swansea, Vorm has always made it clear he would relish the challenge at a bigger club and would be likely to jump at the chance of Champions League football with Liverpool.
Swans boss Garry Monk would be in no rush to lose Vorm but could use the cash to fund recruitment elsewhere in his squad with McCarthy likely to be available for less than £5m.
But it appears the chance to snap-up Bosman free Fabianski has seen the 29-year-old Poland international move further up the reckoning having declared his Wembley appearance with the Gunners his last for the club as he seeks first-team football.
Vorm has admitted he is in the dark about Liverpool’s interest and Rodgers could be ready to wait until after the World Cup before making formal moves.
Swansea are thought to be eyeing a centre-back themselves to add to competition at the heart of defence while wide and midfield options also form part of Monk’s aims to reshape his squad over the summer.
Garry Monk interested in Crystal Palace’s Wales starlet Jonathan Williams while Sunderland’s Jack Colback is the latest name to be linked to a Liberty move.
Monk has remained coy about the type of budget he has to spend, although it is thought unlikely to be beyond the £20m splashed out last summer, at least not without sales to subsidise.
But the rookie boss is already at work as he looks for a speedy start to the signings, claiming he and chairman Huw Jenkins are on the same page in terms of what needs to be done with transfers.
Jenkins had said he would be hopeful of signings within a few weeks of the season’s end, and Monk said: “It is optimistic but it’s good to have a goal.
“We’ve spoken and we both want our targets in before we go away for pre-season. It’s a tough task to do it because there’s always things that can drag on, people can slow deals down, but it’s a good target to have and that’s what we’ll be looking to do.
“I haven’t checked the piggy bank yet to see what we have to spend. We’ve spoken about it but I haven’t been given a budget because it doesn’t work like that.
“Fair play to the chairman, he realises what we have to do and we’ve exchanged views: he’s not stupid, he knows his football, and we both discussed what areas to improve and what sort of player I would like here and so on.
“Hopefully over the coming weeks we can see how we can take us forward.” Monk also suggested the number of players set to arrive at Swansea will depend on which players can be offloaded, with the likes of Jose Canas and Alejandro Pozuelo seeing their Liberty futures in question having been left on the sidelines by Monk. “There will be players that I want to go but you never know if they want to go easily and that makes it difficult to say how many come in,” Monk said.
“It’s part of football and then it’s about how quickly you can get the deals done for those coming in. I’ll only know when we’re up and doing it.
“I have an idea, of course, about what people we need to take out and who we need to bring in but we’ll have to see.”
Liverpool set to raid Cardiff City and Swansea City in swoop for Steven Caulker and Michel Vorm
Liverpool are poised to step-up their pursuit of Swansea City goalkeeper Michel Vorm – and are weighing up whether to move for Cardiff City star Steven Caulker as they plot a potential £15m double raid on South Wales.
Former Swans boss Brendan Rodgers is keen on bolstering his Reds squad after guiding the Anfield club back into the Champions League following their shock title challenge.
And it is understood both Vorm and Caulker are on his wish-list as he seeks to improve his options heading into his third season on Merseyside.
Rodgers worked with the pair at Swansea, both signed by the Northern Irishman upon the Liberty club’s top-flight promotion and going to make a major impact in the Swans’ impressive Premier League debut.
Now he could look to reunite the duo at Liverpool with an offer for No.1 Vorm on the cards after already declaring an interest as he looks for a stopper to challenge Simon Mignolet.
Swansea are understood to be ready to listen to offers for the 30-year-old – currently preparing for the World Cup with the Netherlands – and a bid lower than first thought could see him leave the Liberty this summer.
While once-rated at £10m, Swansea could be prepared to accept less as they look towards younger options, including Reading’s Alex McCarthy, while out-of-contract Arsenal FA Cup winner Lukasz Fabianski is in contention.
Vorm has two years left to run on his deal and is one of the highest earners at the Liberty and would be inevitably seeking a pay rise should his contract be extended.
While settled in Swansea, Vorm has always made it clear he would relish the challenge at a bigger club and would be likely to jump at the chance of Champions League football with Liverpool.
Swans boss Garry Monk would be in no rush to lose Vorm but could use the cash to fund recruitment elsewhere in his squad with McCarthy likely to be available for less than £5m.
But it appears the chance to snap-up Bosman free Fabianski has seen the 29-year-old Poland international move further up the reckoning having declared his Wembley appearance with the Gunners his last for the club as he seeks first-team football.
Vorm has admitted he is in the dark about Liverpool’s interest and Rodgers could be ready to wait until after the World Cup before making formal moves.
Swansea are thought to be eyeing a centre-back themselves to add to competition at the heart of defence while wide and midfield options also form part of Monk’s aims to reshape his squad over the summer.
Garry Monk interested in Crystal Palace’s Wales starlet Jonathan Williams while Sunderland’s Jack Colback is the latest name to be linked to a Liberty move.
Monk has remained coy about the type of budget he has to spend, although it is thought unlikely to be beyond the £20m splashed out last summer, at least not without sales to subsidise.
But the rookie boss is already at work as he looks for a speedy start to the signings, claiming he and chairman Huw Jenkins are on the same page in terms of what needs to be done with transfers.
Jenkins had said he would be hopeful of signings within a few weeks of the season’s end, and Monk said: “It is optimistic but it’s good to have a goal.
“We’ve spoken and we both want our targets in before we go away for pre-season. It’s a tough task to do it because there’s always things that can drag on, people can slow deals down, but it’s a good target to have and that’s what we’ll be looking to do.
“I haven’t checked the piggy bank yet to see what we have to spend. We’ve spoken about it but I haven’t been given a budget because it doesn’t work like that.
“Fair play to the chairman, he realises what we have to do and we’ve exchanged views: he’s not stupid, he knows his football, and we both discussed what areas to improve and what sort of player I would like here and so on.
“Hopefully over the coming weeks we can see how we can take us forward.” Monk also suggested the number of players set to arrive at Swansea will depend on which players can be offloaded, with the likes of Jose Canas and Alejandro Pozuelo seeing their Liberty futures in question having been left on the sidelines by Monk. “There will be players that I want to go but you never know if they want to go easily and that makes it difficult to say how many come in,” Monk said.
“It’s part of football and then it’s about how quickly you can get the deals done for those coming in. I’ll only know when we’re up and doing it.
“I have an idea, of course, about what people we need to take out and who we need to bring in but we’ll have to see.”
Re: ' £15m DOUBLE SWOOP '
Thu May 22, 2014 8:17 pm
Friday 22nd May 2014
Liverpool are closing in on a deal for Cardiff City defender Steven Caulker, according to a report.
There has been widespread rumour that Caulker will move to Anfield this summer after his Cardiff side were relegated from the Premier League last season.
The report suggests that Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers could be homing in on the defender that he took to the Liberty Stadium during his time with Swansea City, and that Cardiff want to make back all £9m of the fee they paid to Tottenham for Caulker last summer.
Caulker was one of the stand-out performers in an otherwise dismal season for the Bluebirds that saw them finish bottom of the pile in the Premier League.
The defender, along with Gary Medel, Andreas Cornelius and Peter Odemwingie, headed a summer transfer window full of activity for Cardiff last season, but the huge sums of cash thrown at the recruitment process failed to pay dividends.
The 22-year-old is expected to be lured to Anfield by Brendan Rodgers to help boost Liverpool’s defensive fragility. Current centre-backs include Martin Skrtel , Daniel Agger, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho.
Liverpool famously threw away their hope of winning the Premier League title against Chelsea and Crystal Palace last season, with Rodgers going on record saying they must improve defensively.
Liverpool are closing in on a deal for Cardiff City defender Steven Caulker, according to a report.
There has been widespread rumour that Caulker will move to Anfield this summer after his Cardiff side were relegated from the Premier League last season.
The report suggests that Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers could be homing in on the defender that he took to the Liberty Stadium during his time with Swansea City, and that Cardiff want to make back all £9m of the fee they paid to Tottenham for Caulker last summer.
Caulker was one of the stand-out performers in an otherwise dismal season for the Bluebirds that saw them finish bottom of the pile in the Premier League.
The defender, along with Gary Medel, Andreas Cornelius and Peter Odemwingie, headed a summer transfer window full of activity for Cardiff last season, but the huge sums of cash thrown at the recruitment process failed to pay dividends.
The 22-year-old is expected to be lured to Anfield by Brendan Rodgers to help boost Liverpool’s defensive fragility. Current centre-backs include Martin Skrtel , Daniel Agger, Kolo Toure and Mamadou Sakho.
Liverpool famously threw away their hope of winning the Premier League title against Chelsea and Crystal Palace last season, with Rodgers going on record saying they must improve defensively.
Re: ' £15m DOUBLE SWOOP '
Fri May 23, 2014 6:32 am
if we can get our money back or even a bit more then i'd be happy 