Friday 7 August 2009

Transfer Speculation: Lucas Leiva, Nicky Butt

Todays transfer gossip brings delight and misery in equal measure.

Lucas Leiva
The Liverpool midfielder is the subject of frustration with most Liverpool fans, who's displays have not exactly excited the hearts and minds of Kopites. The player has occasionally shown the skills which merits manager Rafa Benitez's faith in him, and has exhibited good displays in the pre season fixtures. However there are rumbles in the press indicating that the Brazilian under 21 captain wants to move away from the Anfield club back to his homeland. This story has been given the typical spin and is being reported as: 'another midfield departure that will give Benitez further headaches' type of story. However it shows how little the press understand. Most Liverpoodlians would actually cheer the departure of the young midfielder who speaking recently said:

"You have to see what Benitez has planned but the president of Corinthians already knows I am interested and what I want," Lucas said in the Telegraph.

Nicky Butt
The ex Manchester United player, know playing for relegated Newcastle United, is apparently on Rafa's summer shopping list. It's hard to see an ounce of truth in this story, as a young child would see the short comings of such a purchase, however the Guardian presumably thinking its readers have lost their mind's, chips in with: "Barcelona poised to finally land Javier Mascherano, Anfield's supremo only wants to replace him with Nicky Butt!" No other quote is attributed to the ludicrous claim by the newspaper.

This story would of course contradict Javier Mascherano's own words spoken today, where he proclaims he will be ready to face Tottenham when the season starts. The red midfield enforcer speaking to the official site said:

"Maybe I need a little bit more work because I arrived back when my teammates had already been back 10 days, but I will be in a good position by the start of the new season,"

"We didn't do well against Espanyol so it was important to win. It's pre-season but we knew we had to improve because in 10 days we start the Premier League," he continued.

"There are a lot of positive things to take from this game, like a clean sheet. We know we still have to improve but we are happy and now we have one more game to improve even more.

"After Saturday's game against Atletico we'll have seven days to get in top condition for the Premier League."

...Hardly the words of a player departing for Barcelona

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