It was made very clear in the press, when Brendan Rodgers took charge at Liverpool, that he would be deterred by Swansea from returning for any of his old players. So it comes as something of a surprise that he has so quickly bypassed any clauses to all but sew up a deal for the highly rated Joe Allen. The Guardian reports that
‘Liverpool have exploited a technicality in Allen’s Swansea contract that allows him to join one of five specified clubs – Liverpool among them – for £15m and, having met the price, the Wales international is free to hold talks over a move to Merseyside.’
The potential signing of Allen, who largely impressed for team Great Britain during the Olympics, has drawn polemic responses from Liverpool fans, some of whom believe that the club has an abundance of central midfielders and a paucity of players in other positions.
Nevertheless, Allen looks like less of a gamble than last summer’s major signing, Jordan Henderson. In his time at Swansea, Rodgers will have seen a British player with rare composure on the ball, a team ethic and a fantastic range of passing that was so important to Swansea’s success in the Premier League last season.
Rodgers has gone about his transfer business with a quiet assurance this summer and Allen is a player that he is certain will succeed at the top level. We think that Allen will be an important piece of the Liverpool jigsaw moving forward.
What do Liverpool fans think about this impending transfer?
Abbo usman
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:13 am
A most welcome development
Monty1
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:14 am
Liverpool have too many midfielders, the priority is four strikers and two out and out wingers, then a back up left back. We have two good strikers Borini and Surez and Carroll is unsettled and Morgan still learning the trade, so need at least one more, maybe Sturridge or De Jong, Need two wingers especially if Bellamy also goes. I cant see ho and where Allen will fit in with Lucas Henderson Gerrard Adam Plus Shelvy and Spearing for just two central positions. For me I don’t see how Allen will fit into the squad
darren
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:28 am
yeah to many shite midfielders
gerrard picks him self so does lucas, henderson could do with a season on loan with shelvey, adams is rubbish spearing is rubbish doesnt leave us with much allen knows rodgers game and has proven with swansea and team gb his class most welcome addition and would prefere him to spearing and adams looks like the door is open for them to leave thank god
Rossi
Aug 9, 2012 at 9:45 am
Thats because you hav no idea what you are talking about! Brendan Rodgers plays 433 therefore we don’t need 4 strikers for 1 central role and there are 3 spots in midfield, Allan Gerrard and Lucas will be the preferred 3! Also to those who still call Charlie Adam, Charlie Adams bore off!!!
chunky
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:20 am
Ridiculous signing! Complete waste of money for someone great at side/backward passing who we do NOT need and ignoring the need of a class striker. I suppose Rodgers is consolidating an 8th/10th position next year. I expect next thing will be a change of shirt logo – the Liver bird can easily be replaced with a swan. How fortuitous for us!
darren
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:31 am
yeah ul probably be calling for king kenny again after three games give rodger a chance
Paul
Aug 9, 2012 at 11:12 pm
Lol A Swan instead of a Liver Bird disagree with Allen though He fits the Tiki Taka Style Perfectly…
BrooklynRed
Aug 10, 2012 at 3:58 am
Youre clueless, mate. Allen will ultimately go down as a massive transfer coup. Much is made of his pass completion percentage. But for me the critical feature is the tempo of his play and the penetration with ball at feet and passing range. 4-3-3 is BR’s preference, and likely he’ll play
Suarez-Borini-Gerrard
Allen-Lucas as constants, and rotate among Downing/Shelvey/Adam/Spearing
Enrique-Skrtl-Agger-Johnson
the big LFC fella
Aug 10, 2012 at 7:32 am
Some people are idiots on this, its clear we need to sign Owen back and then get fowler in at january on a half season Loan, if we need a winger look no futher then John barnes he can still do a Job on the flank in my eyes
Chri5jo
Aug 10, 2012 at 8:13 am
About posession football, that was the way Liverpool of the 80’s used to play play it back and sideways till and opening appears. Look the the word ‘support’ up in dictionary. Already moaning because we are not signing star names. So unrealistic some fans, they play championship manager and makes them an expert on players and tactics.
Monty1
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:39 am
If anyone from Swansea is needed it would be Scott Sinclair, don’t make the mistakes of the past, buying players who aren’t needed then leaving expensive people on the bench or play them out of position, concentrate on the priority areas. Allen is good for Swansea but do we need him? its not a priority signing for me, there are better options for £15 million
peter adEyemi
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:43 am
But is like mr BR won’t to play good football and not winning game all his target are not how to score goal but to play well please someboby should tell him we don’t know to play well but win games so what we need is goal scorers we are already playing well before his arriver please let sound it well enough to his hears may be he dosent know our expectations
Rossi
Aug 9, 2012 at 9:48 am
In English please
Ssegawa Ibrahim Arafat
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:48 am
Enough said…
Marc
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:50 am
Some ‘fans’ on here dont have a clue clearly. Get back on FIFA 12.
Old Timer
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:58 am
Yes we want Allen AND Ramirez for the centre midfield. It is time we sold Adam and Spearing, both of whom will never be good enough. Gerrard is getting older. Shelvey is good but too young and needs another year out on loan. Under Rodgers format (4,3,3) there will be 3 midfielders, one defensive (Lucas) and two attacking (Allen AND ramirez). They will rotate with Gerrard and Hendersom. So we would not have too many would we? Wingers/Strikers are the front three and another matter (say Downing, Borini and Suarez) and yes we need two more to cover..
RedSim
Aug 9, 2012 at 9:04 am
Going down same route as we did with Hendo – overpriced, unneeded, and average. We need new signings in numerous positions – striker, winger, left back, defensive midfield enforcer, even centre back if unbelievably Agger is sold – but not central midfield and not Allen for 15m.
Ekeng
Aug 9, 2012 at 9:12 am
Suarez is the only reliable forward and Borini whom we don’t know yet. We need top good goal scorers and NOT midfielders. The existing midfielders are good. Adam, Shelvey, Spearing etc should go with speed while Christian Tello and Joe Allen should come. BR should fortify the defence by two new top class defenders, then we have solid squad to face any aggression.
ray
Aug 9, 2012 at 9:48 am
Great talent – shrewd buy – passionate and very clever – best news in ages
DUBLIN
Aug 9, 2012 at 9:56 am
What we need now is striker not mf pls go Ƒσя striker
Monty1
Aug 9, 2012 at 10:03 am
Regarding our current midfielders, i was one of many fans who said that Lucas was not good enough in his first season, he then became outstanding when he took up a role as a defensive midfielder rather than attacking midfielder, like most fans I too said that Henderson and Adam were not good enough in their first season, now I say they are Liverpool players so give them a chance in this season. I don’t think Shevley is too young by the way, he’s 20 and has played 28 times for us and 10 for Blackburn scoring seven times. There are many good 20 year olds in the premiership. What I do like about Brendon Rogers is the one touch passing and ball possession he wants to bring back to the team. This could be seen in the first game on the American tour. Anyway this is only opinions Brendon has been brought in to make his own decisions and he sees the players ever day.
G
Aug 10, 2012 at 12:21 am
10 for Blackpool
Martin Badger
Aug 9, 2012 at 8:58 pm
I only hope this guy will not be another hopeless dud like Henderson. Personally, I would much prefer Dempsey, a proven goalscoring talent.
Reds4eva
Aug 9, 2012 at 10:27 pm
Allen is good on a number of levels passing and tackling. Will push forward and defend so gives a new dimensions. Reminds me of mascherano but passes better decent shot too. No surprise signing as the article title suggest. We’ve known it was on the cards for a couple of weeks. The full 15 will be paid and expect to see this kid start in a majority of games, he will enforce BR’s system BR will have it no other way. It’s has been made clear, nobody is safe, everyone has a price. Play the system or expect to be shifted. Any stray pass must face being subbed, a high standard and meticulous system can catapult a team to new heights, but there can be no misfits. Short on wing play options, and a clinical finisher just to give the squad some stylistic diversity and variation to throw defences on the back foot. A left back looking forwards will be on the shopping list also. Good things r coming just gonna have to wait.
Badnews
Aug 10, 2012 at 12:06 am
While he seems adecent buy ,15 m is a lot on a 1 season swan. but i stil hop we go 4 ramirez. Spearo, adams, downing shld b returned 2 seller 4 a pric. Hping 2 see more of the suso, strling, pcheco, morgn,coady, texeia dis sisn.only way we can lay fdtn
Ben
Aug 10, 2012 at 1:03 am
Despite what these FM12/Fifa12 fans say, Allen is a terrific buy, exactly what we need. Our midfield trio of Mascherano (destroyer), Alonso (creator) and Gerrard (Attacker) is now replaced with Lucas (destroyer), Allen (creator) and Gerrard (attacker) with Shelvey and Hendo waiting. Allen is quality and has the potential to be as good as, if not better than alonso, and Lucas is already as good as Masche was. I hope Spearing stays, as he is a committed DM who fights like a dog for every ball. He is young and raw, and makes mistakes, but the key there was YOUNG. He will develop into a solid DM and we’d be fuming if we left. Rodgers will hopefully sign Ramirez for our RW (playing a cut in role like Suarez did so well against Gomel) then we are set.
Oh and I really really hope we dont lose Agger, not for all of the sultans riches. He is epic! Plus if we lose him, can you imagine playing against Man Shitty with a back 3 of Agger, Lescott and Kompany. That is scary.
YNWA
Benj
Reds4eva
Aug 10, 2012 at 2:26 am
Nice comments. Lucas destroyer.lol. That’s probably right but he’s gonna have actually win the ball back, make his tackles bite. So far he’s been the Brazillian wonder kid without the skill. Shame really LFC only get the side show Brazillians, Aurelio (lol) and Lucas. Lucas is better than Spearing that much is true. It would be interesting to see how different the starting line up looks a couple of weeks into the prem. I would not be surprised if Allen and Lucas are pitted against each other for the same position.
Fab Fabio
Aug 10, 2012 at 5:49 am
You probably wouldn’t be surprised because you know shit about football. Tell me one midfielder in the premier league better than Lucas. Barry? Carrick? Old Scholes? Song? Chelsea has any as good? We really suck on the wings, but not on central mid with Allen, Lucas and Gerrard.
Yisahk
Aug 10, 2012 at 5:29 am
How can Anderson and Henderson wear their club Jerrsy .big shame they r counting like Steven Gerald
Lawrence C N
Aug 10, 2012 at 5:40 am
Get me Gaston Ramirez first before others please.we don’t need players like Sturidge please.
Dude
Aug 10, 2012 at 6:17 am
Good buy for our mediocre midfield. Adam and Spearing are clearly two players who need to move on. Agger cannot be sold now unless we got somewhat of a surprise for him to replace; someone in similar class but for less £££. This all takes time and that is what impatient LFC supporters need to understand.
Zekk Chai
Aug 10, 2012 at 6:38 am
I disagree with this article, the way it was mentioned, it seems like Rodgers wa the villain. The reason which compelled him to act was because Swansea despite telling Rodgers not to bid for their players, invited Spurs to bid for Allen. And to add to that, the stupidity of who stated he was “resigned to losing Allen” even before Rodgers express interest, seems to the outside world that someone is already trying to buy him. It is all Swansea’s fault not Rodgers’.
Zekk Chai
Aug 10, 2012 at 6:39 am
Stupidity of Laudrup, sorry about the omission.
sewalu Allan
Aug 10, 2012 at 7:10 am
yeah,plenty of midfielders but very poor apart frm lucas and gerrard who has lyk 2ys be4 he ends his career,so we need allen.
Nick C.
Aug 10, 2012 at 8:01 am
I’m sorry but Alonso is in a class of his own. To put things simply Joe Allen will have to have the potential to be able to control and dictate games against “Champions League” class opposition, have the quality to become a key Real Madrid first team player. Alonso is also a starter in a World dominating Spanish national team already full of classy MFs.
Lfc
Aug 10, 2012 at 8:10 am
Allen is as useless as Brendan Rogers
darren
Aug 11, 2012 at 6:32 am
there are loads of plastic liverpool fans on here and u are one of them(dick head) u havent got a clue what ur talking about
mark
Aug 11, 2012 at 2:59 am
seriously how are we ever going to win a premier league title with the weight of negative supporters always on the players backs , i cant understand why half of you even support liverpool all i ever see is negative crap , you all think you have what it takes to be a manager of liverpool and yous all think you can play better than the player sdon the park , thats just hilarious if use were all so good youd be on that park playing for liverpool but you aint ,half of use wouldnt know how to kick a ball , and to even to try and kick a ball that means you would have to get of your lazy negative asses to do it lol , id love to see just one day come on a liverpool website and see every one being positive so in can transcend across to the players playing for our great club , every one compares certain players from our past with new players , alonso for instance yes he was a great player for us but you have to remember his first was ok his next 2 seasons were avergae and his last season he was brilliant so why cant we just for once give new players a chance to play for us and stop the negative crap ynwa
Rg
Aug 11, 2012 at 3:40 am
Allen is a good buy. A bit of a teachers pet at Swansea. Position, passing and ability high up there and prob above Hendo who will be the most upset one having to start on bench.
I still think we need 2 More signings. Spain showed if you have intelligent players you don’t really need a Torres in your team. Whether this works in premiership is yet to be seen.
In: Dempsey for Adam straight swap
Ramirez or tello
Striker just in case of injury as Bellamy and kuyt gone.
Out: Adam, shelvey on loan.
Monty1
Aug 13, 2012 at 4:05 pm
this is turning into a general discussion about Liverpool rather than a signing that was never going to be the surprise this article made out. Anyway lets hope for more goal scorers to be signed – thee out and only one in so far !