Kewell’s move to Galatasaray is likely to be lucrative, with no fee being payable to Liverpool for his services, and the move has angered fans of his last club Leeds. Their instant thought when hearing the name of the Turkish side is of the deaths of two of their fans in 2000 on the eve of a UEFA Cup match. Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight were stabbed in Istanbul by Galatasaray fans.

The Australian international’s decision to sign for Galatasaray was announced on Friday, before his agent claimed it wasn’t actually finalised. The player was in Turkey on the Friday however, and the deal was officially announced the day after. It’s taken another 48 hours for his thoughts on what this move might mean to Leeds fans to be released.

Kewell left Leeds for a transfer fee of just £3m, with his representatives getting £2m, as the Yorkshire side were about to start on their slide down the divisions and a period of financial ruin. It was hardly Kewell’s fault that Leeds had taken big risks financially, but many Leeds fans still felt the player’s part in his cut-price transfer was a betrayal, showing a lack of respect and little concern for their club’s welfare. Speaking through Sky, Kewell says nothing has changed: “My love and respect for Leeds United and what the club has done for me will never change, no matter what anyone says about me and whatever their motives are.”

Kewell claims he was thinking of Leeds when he chose his shirt number for his new club: “I chose the number 19 shirt when I signed for Galatasaray as a sign of respect for Leeds because that was the number I got when I first became a regular member of the Leeds United FC starting XI.”

He went on: “I felt that it might be a way to demonstrate that I had not forgotten where it all started and I was hoping that in a small way it would help the healing process of the tragedy that occurred on the 5th of April 2000. My sense of sorrow and sympathy for the families and friends of Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight will always be with me.”

The statement then leads up to his own justification for joining a club the Leeds fans have such distaste for: “For me, sport should first and foremost be about the love of your game. But equally important is the respect for not only your team-mates but all those who you compete against. For this reason I have always objected to any form of discrimination in any sport and football in particular, as that is the sport that is the most near and dear to me.”

And he is sure to enrage Leeds supporters with this comment: “To blame the Galatasaray club for the tragedy in Istanbul is simply wrong and discriminatory.” [Read more →]

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Swiss defender Philipp Degen is now Liverpool’s first official first-team signing of the summer, after he signed a four-year deal with the club.

He arrives on a Bosman deal, after his Borussia Dortmund contract expired at the end of June and is glad to be here: “It’s a great club with great fans and I am happy to be here. I know the club has a strong tradition and a rich history. I hope to play a big role in the future.”

Speaking to the official Liverpool FC website, he said he sees a comparison between the Premier League and the Bundesliga: “You probably know that I played in Germany with Borussia Dortmund - that was a strong league too. But now I’m looking forward to the challenge of England and the Premier League, which is probably the strongest league in the world right now.”

His name has appeared on an Anfield team-sheet already, in 2002 when Basel drew 1-1 at Anfield in the Champions League. He was an unused sub, but remembers the occasion well: “I have been to Anfield before, with Basel, although I did not play on that occasion. But it was a great experience and to see the fans singing the famous song ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ was something special.”

He describes himself as a “pacey player who likes to get forward. I have a good attacking mentality and like to get up and down the flank. I also have good technique.” He also has good words to say about manager Rafa Benítez, who he says was an important part of his decision to join: “He was very important. He is the manager here and one of the finest coaches in the world. He has a fantastic record with both LFC and Valencia. I’m looking forward to working with him.” [Read more →]

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Former Liverpool player Harry Kewell has found a new club, after becoming a free agent at the end of June when his five-year Liverpool contract ended. After being linked with a number of clubs, he has chosen to go to Turkish side Galatasaray on a three-year deal.

Or so it seemed.

The announcement was made on the Istanbul side’s official website, but now Kewell’s agent, Bernie Mandic, claims there is still some thinking to do. He told the Australian FourFourTwo that a decision should be announced tomorrow: “We have not finalised a deal for Harry and it’s down to two possibilities. People will be notified if and when Harry decides on one of the options which may be around noon on Saturday European time. We will not make any other comments until then.”

Kewell’s £60,000-a-week deal with Liverpool began when he moved from Leeds to Anfield in July 2003 in a deal brokered by Mandic. The transfer fee Liverpool paid was £5m, but the then-Leeds board were angered in that they had assumed they would be receiving that full £5m - instead they had to pay a £2m cut to Kewell’s “representatives”, according to their statement at the time. It was a controversial exit from a club he’d joined as a teenager, and as much as that angered Leeds fans his next choice of club - if it is Galatasaray - is also likely to cause some anger amongst Leeds fans. They remember their club’s last trip to Galatasaray for the wrong reasons.

In 2000 Leeds played Galatasaray in the semi-final of the UEFA Cup, but the game was marred by the murders of two Leeds supporters the night before. Christopher Loftus and Kevin Speight were stabbed to death by Turkish supporters. The game went ahead despite the tragic events, Kewell playing in the 2-0 defeat.

His 2003 move to Anfield was announced in a statement by Leeds: “Leeds United confirms that it has accepted an offer from Liverpool Football Club for the transfer of Harry Kewell for £5m in cash. In order to effect the transfer, Leeds United has had to agree to pay a fee to representatives of Kewell in the sum of £2m.”

Various claims were made about how negotiations had been carried out, with Leeds hinting that they had expected £5m to be paid to them, with the £2m to be paid to Kewell’s representatives coming also from Anfield, costing Liverpool a total of £7m. However in a tight financial situation they had to accept that £3m was better than nothing, with Kewell a year away from becoming a free agent: “The board, having taken appropriate professional advice, felt that it had no option but to accept these terms given the context of Kewell’s current contract. Kewell currently has only one year remaining of his contract with Leeds United. As such he would be in a position to sign a pre-contract agreement with another club in January 2004 and leave Leeds United at the end of the 2003/4 season without any transfer fee being payable.” [Read more →]

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Liverpool striker Fernando Torres put his name in the history books last night when he scored the winning goal in the European Championships final. His goal, 12 minutes from half-time, gave Spain their first trophy in 44 years, when they last won this competition.

It wasn’t just Torres who won the trophy of course, the team spirit and unity was something that many observers have mentioned as being the difference between this squad and the talented underachievers of past tournaments. Included in that squad were of course some of the Liverpool striker’s club teammates, Xabi Alonso, Pepe Reina and Álvaro Arbeloa.

For the latter two their role was confined to a run-out in the final group game, when Spain had already qualified. Xabi Alonso also started that game, wearing the captain’s armband, and has had more of a role to play, including coming on last night as a 63^rd minute substitute to ensure Spain didn’t throw away what Torres had worked so hard to bring them.

[Read more →]

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For the first time this year, a joint statement has been issued by Liverpool co-owners George Gillett and Tom Hicks, as they announced the commencement of work on the site of the proposed new stadium for the club.

When planning consent was granted by the council in May there was a waiting period before work of any kind could commence, and it seems that has now passed. The statement on the official club website says the council, “granted full planning permission on June 19 to Liverpool Football Club to build a 60,000 seater stadium and outline planning permission for a mixed use development on the existing Anfield stadium site.”

The 60,000 capacity was a throwback to the plans inherited by the current owners when they took the club over last year. Their decision to scrap those plans was made partly because of a desire for a unique look to the new ground, as opposed the generic-looking bowl appearance of the originals, but mainly because of the need for a larger capacity. The intention is to have the capacity as high as 73,000 by the time the stadium opens - it has room for that capacity - but to do this certain improvements must be made to the infrastructure to enable what is an otherwise residential area to handle an increase of 28,000 visitors to the area on match day. One element of the current plans is an underground car park holding around 1,000 cars, but those cars will have to arrive early and leave late as part of the planning conditions. Proposals to build a new railway station on an existing freight line have been looked at. [Read more →]

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The last time George Gillett gave an interview to Toronto’s sports-based radio station The Fan 590, the war for control of Liverpool FC went right back to the top of the headlines again; it signalled the beginning of one of the ugliest phases in the fiasco of the past six months. It was the first time one of the owners had admitted they had a problem with their partner since DIC’s hostile takeover bid began late last year. Gillett admitted his relationship with Tom Hicks had broken down some time before. The interview included allegations from Gillett suggesting he’d received death threats from fans. It also contained a vow from Gillett that he would not sell a single percent of his stake in the club to partner Tom Hicks.

What followed was a public war of words which involved Gillett, Hicks, Rick Parry and David Moores, with Dubai International Capital sitting back and enjoying the fireworks, hopeful that when the dust settled they’d find both Hicks and Gillett standing pens in hand waiting to sign the shares away.

That didn’t happen, in fact very little has changed at all in terms of the club’s future. The battle was potentially damaging, certainly to Liverpool’s reputation, although the team did play on as if nothing was going on off the field. All that heartache for fans,  yet the club is still jointly owned by Messrs Gillett and Hicks.

So when news filtered out that Gillett was about to do another interview with the same presenter on the same station, fans were understandably anxious about what was going to be said, and what the fallout might be. It was made more worrying in that it followed on from a statement two weeks ago by the Liverpool supporter’s union, Spirit of Shankly, implying the ball was now firmly in Gillett’s court: “Is George Gillett still looking for every last penny?” the statement asked. “Well, why is he still here? Gillett is happy enough to give the impression he wants to sell. Well, SOS has been told he can sell whenever he wants. The opportunity is there to get out of our club. Why hasn’t he?” The impression was this information had come from the Dubai representatives in contact with SOS. And Gillett was possibly looking to defend himself. [Read more →]

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John Arne Riise is no longer a Liverpool player after he left and joined AS Roma for just short of £4m, according to an announcement from the Italian side tonight.

The fee of €5m, which converts to £3.96m, is close to the £4.6m Liverpool paid for him seven years ago, when former boss Gerard Houllier signed him from Monaco. Riise has signed for four years, the Roma website says.

The Italian club’s statement simply read: “AS Roma announce they have reached an agreement with Liverpool Football Club for the acquisition of the sporting rights of the player John Arne Riise with effect from July 1 2008.”

However Liverpool FC’s remained more cautious about confirming the news. The deal has been as good as done, but they are waiting for the red tape before confirming the news. A statement on LFC.tv said: “Liverpool are awaiting completion of the necessary paperwork before officially announcing John Arne Riise’s transfer to AS Roma. Riise arrived in the Italian capital on Wednesday and held talks with the Serie A side, who have since announced he has signed on a four year deal.”

Riise had taken some time to come to terms with the idea he was surplus to requirements in the eyes of Rafa Benítez, but when he did accept the idea commented that the £5m demanded by Liverpool seemed high. The fee paid is good business for Liverpool considering the Norwegian star had just a year left on his deal.

Riise finalised talks on personal terms, already initiated by his agent, and passed a medical in the Italian capital. A statement earlier in the day from Roma said: “As part of ongoing negotiations with Liverpool football club regarding the signing of John Arne Riise, Roma have been authorised to deal with the agent of the player.” His agent, Jan Kvalheim, had also confirmed Riise’s presence in Italy: “I can confirm that John Arne Riise is in Rome for a medical and to finalise the negotiations. A few small details remain.” [Read more →]

Tags: News, Transfers Summer 2008 by Jim Boardman
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Dirk Kuyt’s contribution to Holland’s successful start to Euro 2008 meant he and many other of the first-choice Dutch side sat out last night’s final group game against Romania. Already assured of qualifying, manager Marco van Basten was able to give some of the fringe players a chance, with Kuyt coming on in the 61^st minute for Robben. Holland won the game 2-0.

Second place in the group went to Italy, whose win over France earns them a quarter-final tie with Spain. After a stuttering start the Italians will be wary of a Spanish side also helped by some good performances by a Liverpool forward. Fernando Torres has helped Spain to get off to a flier too. Spanish coach Luis Aragonés is set to give Pepe Reina a rare start for his country for tonight’s final group game.

The partnership between Torres and David Villa has been something that has left Liverpool supporters desperate to see Rafa Benítez sign the Valencia star and allow the duo to inflict punishment on English defences next season. Villa has played down rumours that he has already agreed to sign for Liverpool, telling Spanish journalist Guillem Balague that he hasn’t spoken to Liverpool, his club insist he isn’t for sale, and he’s concentrating on the European Championship anyway: “I have heard that I am supposed to have said that I would prefer to go to Liverpool to play next season or that I want Chelsea to be my next team. Please, Guillem, make sure that people know that I have not said anything like that. My club insists I am not for sale and, believe me, I am totally focused on the European Championships. As far as I know, nobody from Liverpool has been in touch, but in any case my future is not something I have in my mind at the moment. I do not understand why people put words in my mouth.” [Read more →]

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Liverpool’s tour dates for next season, along with the dates for their home performances, have been revealed this morning. However, unlike a rock group or comedian who would actually do all they could to get their list of dates out as far and wide as possible, football teams demand payment before you give them this advertising space.

The fixtures are distributed by PA Sport, who maintain that it is a breach of copyright to announce the fixtures without first obtaining an expensive licence from them. They handle these rights for all league clubs, in England and Scotland. There is some debate as to whether it is actually possible to hold a list of events subject to copyright.

For a full list of Liverpool’s fixtures visit the official Liverpool FC website, in particular the article: REDS TO START AT SUNDERLAND. [Read more →]

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The next step in Rafa Benítez’s summer transfer plans looks to have taken place, with reports from Italy claiming that Liverpool have now agreed a fee with Juventus for the sale of Spanish midfielder Xabi Alonso.

Liverpool’s original expectation, or starting point in negotiations, was £16m, but Corriere dello Sport say that Liverpool have accepted €18 million, £14.2 million, for one of the heroes of Istanbul. The report said Juve had made it clear this was their final offer, and were unwilling to add another million Euros to their offer, which would then have matched Liverpool’s demands.

The report also adds that Juve will send people to Liverpool now to sort out the minor small print on the deal.

Until recently Liverpool had maintained they didn’t want to sell Xabi, and Xabi had maintained that he didn’t want to leave, but Alonso has said more recently that he felt pride at being linked with Juve.

Earlier reports in Italy claimed Juve had given up on Alonso, and were now considering a bid for Bastian Schweinsteiger of Bayern Munich rather than pay the demanded £15m for Alonso.

Aston Villa have rejected the latest offer from Liverpool for Gareth Barry. Some claims in recent days had Liverpool bidding anywhere from £15m to £20m for Barry, but Liverpool’s bid seems to have been a more acceptable £13m. Acceptable to Liverpool fans that is, who on the whole feel that paying the kind of money Manchester United paid for Barry’s England team-mates Michael Carrick and Owen Hargreaves is way too much. But not acceptable to the Villa manager, who admits Barry wants to be a Red. [Read more →]

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