all these failed departures, clearly suggests that unwanted players are refusing to budge from their big fat Liverpool contracts.
I always had the feeling that people like Borinii are happy to run down their contract - in order to get bigger wages when they do leave (i.e. little or nothing in a transfer fee for the club, and all the money going into a big fat wage).
I'd freeze people like that out.
If we cannot get a decent fee - then we can ruin a player's future wage demands, when he eventually leaves for another club (by not having him involved). If a lad like Borini is effectively out of football for a year or more, then what club will give him 90,000 a week in the future.
Two can play the system.
Common sense and mutual respect will prevail, one always hopes.
With Assaidi I'd agree with you Dude. He had a successful spell at Stoke, which is his level, and they clearly wanted him to continue to be a first team player. He's asked for a certain salary, I've no idea whether it's the same as what he gets here or more. A salary which the likes of Stoke simply can't pay, now he's still ended up there anyway, with us no doubt topping up what Stoke can pay him. His value will be less next Summer and he'll probably get his move to Stoke with them paying less an probably topping up what they offered him this year.
With Borini, there's been no indication that he priced himself out of a move to Sunderland, rather he just didn't want to go there. If one of the Italian clubs had come in for him as had been rumoured, then I'm pretty certain he would have 'gone home'. We chose to sign him and gave him the contract we did and he's entitled to hold us to it as we would hold him to it if it suited us.
I think Borini is a serious, professional who wants to prove himself with us, or at least fail having been given a fair crack. He left what was a very good situation for him, having just come off an excellent season with Roma, having signed permanently in the January, he scored 9 goals in 24 matches and was a regular first team player, and had made his debut for the Italian Senior National team.
Along comes a manager who he's already played for twice before, obviously showing great belief in him, backed up by the offer of a 5 year contract. He could have stayed at Roma and it was probably a mistake him not doing, but he strikes be as a very determined and grounded individual who wished to challenge himself. He had bad luck with injury in his first season and had to settle for playing out of position when he was given a first team chance. I think having had the manager pay a pretty large fee for him and then him have the luck with injuries he did, I think he went to Sunderland in order to and probably on the understanding that he could prove himself there and then make a go of his career here.
Obviously things change and move on in football, and he's a casualty of that, but I think he just wants an injury free season to try to prove himself to a manager who had previously shown a lot of faith and confidence in him in various ways (2nd time signing him, fee paid, 5 year deal etc). If he gets the chance and it doesn't work out I think he would then move on, but I think getting the chance is important to him, and he seems prepared to fight against the odds to try and get it. Whenever he's played he's never given less than a 100% and I'd rather have a team of the likes of him, Carra and Dirk, than one full of the likes of Glenn Johnson.
I don't think he is either good enough or the right sort of striker, but I'd have others out of the club before him, in terms of lack of application, effort, professionalism and happy to just go through the motions and collect their salaries.
