Transfers - Gossip Shop: Liverpool's Booze Cruz

Eurosport - Fri, 05 Dec 15:06:00 2008

It's nearly Christmas, Roque Santa Cruz is being linked with a move from Blackburn, and the headline writes itself.

2008-2009 Blackburn Rovers Roque Santa Cruz - 0

For what says 'Christmas spirit' like, well, several litres of Christmas spirits, a 24-pack of Stella and granny's alarmingly sweet sherry?

Certainly not some red-suited bloke in a Dorset 'theme park' desperately trying to find the sellotape to re-attach the cotton wool to his chin.

Santa Cruz himself is a model professional, of course, which is just one of the reasons why Rafa Benitez wants to bring him to Anfield and send Jermaine Pennant in the opposite direction.

Benitez intends to return to the good old days of squad rotation to reduce the load on Fernando Torres's prima donna-ish hamstrings.

With Robbie Keane presently unable to finish his dinner and Dirk Kuyt thriving on the wing, Benitez wants an extra body up front.

Something in the region of £8m plus Pennant could persuade Paul Ince to do business as Rovers look to whack the loot on a decent defender or two.

It hardly needs saying but Gossip Shop will say it anyway - Liverpool face competition from Manchester City for Santa Cruz's signature.

It is probably fair to assume that Herita Ilunga won't make his loan move to West Ham permanent.

The Toulouse man has employed classic 'no disrespect, but...' tactics to diss the Hammers, saying: "Without being derogatory, West Ham are a second-rate club.

"Let's not kid ourselves - we are not an Arsenal, Manchester United or Chelsea.

"Once I have proved myself in a team such this, I can hope to make the step up to another club."

Without being derogatory, Ilunga is out of his mind if he thinks he can hold a candle to Gael Clichy, Patrice Evra or Cheryl Cole's WAG.

Wigan have slapped a £10m price tag on a 30-year-old striker who scores five goals a season and has six months left on his contract.

The reason? Steve Bruce reckons Emile Heskey could be the only thing standing between the Latics and the costly business that is releagation.

Freddy Adu has said it is "one of my dreams" to play for Tottenham. One of Gossip Shop's dreams is being chased through the streets of Bratislava by masked agents before waking up in a cold but strangely euphoric sweat. If a sweat can be euphoric.

Sulley Muntari strongly recommends that Michael Essien ditches Chelsea for Internazionale just as soon as he comes back from that knee injury.

Essien sleeps 14 hours a day, and they have very good mattresses in Italy.

Centre-back Alex is another man being lured away from Stamford Bridge by a Chelsea old boy.

This time it is Henk Ten Cate, who wants the Brazilian to move to Panathinaikos on loan.

Alex has fallen behind Branislav Ivanovic - who plays every match in an Albert Ferrer-themed wig - in Big Phil's defensive pecking order.

Finally, two stories that have little in common but are dull enough to merit lumping together.

Fulham will bid £6m to sign Kevin Doyle from Reading, while West Ham could flog Valon Behrami to Palermo as their money troubles continue. Have they not heard of Ocean Finance?

KAKA KORNER

Milan playmaker Kaka must have a sore, dimpled backside after the fence-sitting he has been doing lately.

Check this out from Friday morning's press conference: "I am happy at Milan. If one day I have to leave because my objectives are not the same as Milan, then I could go to the Premier League ... [Robinho] said Manchester City have a great project for the future."

Alex Chick / Eurosport

Comment 15 - 34 of 54

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  1. bin dippers to win nish...again

    From mike, on Fri 5 Dec 3:21PM
  2. you cant play kuyt upfront he dont score enough goals­ he has now proven he is better on the wing he is not­ quick enough or a good enough finisher to be a striker­ for liverpool, personally id rotate him with babel when­ we playing teams who just defend because he is­ different to anyone else at the club with the way he­ runs at players, and you cant watch many liverpool­ games if you think arbeloa @#$% he is getting better he­ a good defender and does venture forward and links up,­ but yes we need another left back maybe bale from­ relegation threatened spurs,lol, and thirdly we should­ still sign barry, yes alonso is a good player and­ passer but he dont hardly score and he dont really lay­ on that many goals yes he spreads the play 40 yards but­ there not the killer balls you need when say gerrards­ not on his game alonso needs alot of time on the ball­ and ive never seen anyone who seems scared to shoot­ when he around the box but when he in his own half he­ shoots for fun

    From neilbeattie1982, on Fri 5 Dec 3:15PM
  3. i think liverpool should go and get owen back hes still­ a quality finisher he could help liverpool win the­ title

    From tony0ldbury, on Fri 5 Dec 3:15PM
  4. So its time for the bottom to fall out of­ liverpool's seasen then is it??? hahaha Go Raffa go­ haha what an idiot
    Chelsea are just gana get Stronger­ while Liverpool go the other way as we get Essian back­ Torres is just gana get worse and worse he's not a­ robot. Who's gana get all the goals ? Robie Keane?­ Do me a favour I can't wait to watch Chelsea do­ somthing special this seasen

    From matthart, on Fri 5 Dec 3:07PM
  5. Let Rafa do his job he knows his players. Give him the­ benefit of a doubt. Go Rafa go. This is our season. It­ is now or never. It has been a long time coming.

    From murimirn, on Fri 5 Dec 2:48PM
  6. WANT TO SELL KUYT?THEN THE RED DEVILS WILL­ SWOOP.

    UGO-A UNITED FAN

    From Ugo, on Fri 5 Dec 2:44PM
  7. if robbie keane stopped whinging to the refs; looking­ for frees and just went back to basics. id say he;d get­ his shooting boots back. get tough robbie

    From coolwelder99, on Fri 5 Dec 2:37PM
  8. we need a great right-fullback...

    From deddi a, on Fri 5 Dec 2:28PM
  9. "Fernando Torres's prima donna-ish­ hamstrings." - what sort of bull@#$% is that? if­ you cant talk sense go and write for the Sun

    From enith p, on Fri 5 Dec 2:13PM
  10. I'm so much concerned about Liverpool, we hv a­ problem of scoring, may be if cruz come in, there will­ be changes and i must confess that kean has not shown­ any impact in the team. Rafa Benitez should pls do­ someting and work on defenders, strikers, and wings. Up­ Liverpool

    From coolperson4real, on Fri 5 Dec 2:10PM
  11. It's not Cruz we need at Liverpool, it's Zaki.­ So come Benitez, go get him

    From Steve S, on Fri 5 Dec 2:08PM
  12. Purple hatstand talks a load of pants

    From Mike, on Fri 5 Dec 1:52PM
  13. as a united fan i find it hilarious some pool fans want­ to see Kuyt go. you wouldn't be where you are this­ season if it wasn't him. i agree with the guy­ below, you need proper full-backs. i say United 1st,­ Pool 2nd, Chelsea 3rd, Villa 4th

    From United, kids, wife, on Fri 5 Dec 1:51PM
  14. purple hatstand, why would you question rafa's­ tactics and most of the players when they have gotten­ you to the top of the league currently, and that's­ coming from a united fan. and kuyt is an extremely hard­ working player who many clubs would love to have.­ don't judge your players on such little­ imperfections when they have got you to the top of the­ premier league.
    peace out.

    From aleksicn93, on Fri 5 Dec 1:49PM
  15. i can't see santa cruz working lets just go get­ vagner love off cska moscow hes scored loads in russia­ and can't b as bad as a brazilian as lucas

    From DJ, on Fri 5 Dec 1:48PM
  16. Re Kaka & Robinho - Has anyone noticed how players­ don't play for clubs anymore?

    They're just­ involved with 'projects' with them...

    It's­ as though they can't lower themselves to admitting­ that they've got jobs.

    From Danny Slavin, on Fri 5 Dec 1:46PM
  17. Babel's best can't be seing on the bench; as­ for Cruz, it's a welcome idear.

    From Sollysos, on Fri 5 Dec 1:45PM
  18. "my objectives".. that's hilarious.­ I'm guessing they want to win and so do you. So­ what you really meant is "money"?

    RSC is­ worth maybe 15-20 mil, so a trade for Pennant and 8mil­ would benefit Liverpool more than anything. I can't­ see Ince trading him for anything but hard cash to the­ highest bidder (won't be Liverpool).

    From G, on Fri 5 Dec 1:30PM
  19. hey aaron have u been livig on the moon peter crouch­ plays 4 pompey u clown!!!

    From paddy, on Fri 5 Dec 1:26PM
  20. rafa's in-game sub decisions, starting line-up­ rotation madness and transfer weirdnesses just keep on­ coming. kuyt is a striker and should be deployed as­ such, pennant is a right-winger who can take on­ full-backs round the outside and put crosses into the­ box (rafa currently deploys NO players on either flank­ to do this job), riera/babel should be encouraged to do­ the same on the left. wingers need to backed up by­ full-backs but rafa sold riise and finnan and the 3­ replacements (aurelio,arbeloa & dossena) are all­ useless (check out bosingwa, cole, clichy, evra­ etc....). lucas is the worst brazilian in the world­ and mascherano, for all his amazing tackling abilities,­ is rubbish with the ball at his feet. there are­ already several strikers being rotated in and out of­ the first team who just can't get the ball off the­ rubbish players around them (keane had 5 touches in the­ 1st half of the west ham game and was sustituted soon­ into the 2nd - and he doesn't play up front on his­ own). gerard, carragher, alonso and torres are the only­ real players at the club, and if one of them is out, we­ struggle. i would be very surprised if santa cruz was­ able to add in an effective to what's already­ there.

    From purple_hatstand, on Fri 5 Dec 1:24PM
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