It's official:

Official Dipper Site

Liverpool Football Club this evening confirmed they had reached agreement for the sale of Xabi Alonso to Real Madrid, subject only to a medical.

The terms of the deal will remain confidential and undisclosed.

Great news and I am looking forward to seeing what future flop Rafa has lined up right now.

ill copy my post over

Fee believed to be in the range of 30m Euros, but currently undisclosed. And the Italian football press believes Liverpool have agreed to sign Aquilani for over 20 of that. And from everything I have heard about Aquilani he is 1. not very similar to Alonso and 2. injury prone, so thats good

After Fat Spanish Waiter came so close to winning the title, I never thought he would go and replace a vital cog in his team. Well done Rafa you canny bar steward

On the flipside, Real now can field a midfield trio of

--Gago/Diarra---Alsono

-----------Kaka

It looks tantalizingly similar to Toure---Xavi---Iniesta, but only time will tell if they are that successful together. But it shows Perez realizes you have to have grit to go with glamour if you want to get a successful team.

They paid the price for trying to replace him with a substandard player last season.

Let's hope they don't get Sneijder in return.

Edited August 4, 200916 yr by Gem

I bet Lampard is happy...

Real Madrid have quite a team next season though. Would be though if we meet them i CL next season.

I bet Lampard is happy...

Real Madrid have quite a team next season though. Would be though if we meet them i CL next season.

They still have a sh*te defence... if Arbeloa is their solution, they're almost laughable.

Great news and I am looking forward to seeing what future flop Rafa has lined up right now.

they have all but signed aquilani from roma. Very injury prone and a completely different player from alonso but talented all the same. Heres hoping its enough to ruin their title challenge

Unrelated, but it's a competitive team in the Prem, and the fee is the same... bu reporst are that Cesc Fabregas is in talks with AC Milan who are offering 30 million for him.

Unrelated, but it's a competitive team in the Prem, and the fee is the same... bu reporst are that Cesc Fabregas is in talks with AC Milan who are offering 30 million for him.

If alonso sold for 34 mil there is no way that fabregas will go for 30mil. He is younger and more talented than alonso.

thats the dippers screwed then, he was easily their best player ast season and is the player that makes punchy mcgerrard look good. also, their gonna struggle having to play against 11 men now that their red card specialist has left. cant wait to see how the dippers try and make this look a good thing, it should be good for a laugh.

Just need Mascherano to go to Barca now and they will down to a 2 man team, then when the diving cheat Gerrard and Torres dont turn up - they will be well and truly f**ked

Tim, I wouldnt be shocked. Mascherano must wonder if his manager has lost his mind with this one. I would certainly start to raise questions if I were a dipper player. But I dont think Barca are going to pay the rumored 40-50m for him.

thats the dippers screwed then, he was easily their best player ast season and is the player that makes punchy mcgerrard look good. also, their gonna struggle having to play against 11 men now that their red card specialist has left. cant wait to see how the dippers try and make this look a good thing, it should be good for a laugh.

The Scouse damage control has already started. Reasons I have seen include

-he only had a good season when he was threatened with being sold (down to Rafa's genius)

-he was present for a majority of their draws last season (not Rafa's fault, clearly)

-they made a massive profit on him (well in rafa)

-Mascheranho will make any midfield partner look good

-he was unsettled and therefore not worth keeping

Ferguson has come out and stated the obvious this morning. "Liverpool had probably their best season for 20 years and still finished four points adrift." Now they have taken that team, and changed the engine. Unless Aquilani is the second coming of Zidane, I dont think he is going to immedialely be better than Alonso

Sky Sports are reporting that Christian Poulsen of Juventus is a possible replacement.

Edited August 5, 200916 yr by sweet waffle

Tim, I wouldnt be shocked. Mascherano must wonder if his manager has lost his mind with this one. I would certainly start to raise questions if I were a dipper player. But I dont think Barca are going to pay the rumored 40-50m for him.

The Scouse damage control has already started. Reasons I have seen include

-he only had a good season when he was threatened with being sold (down to Rafa's genius)

-he was present for a majority of their draws last season (not Rafa's fault, clearly)

-they made a massive profit on him (well in rafa)

-Mascheranho will make any midfield partner look good

-he was unsettled and therefore not worth keeping

Ferguson has come out and stated the obvious this morning. "Liverpool had probably their best season for 20 years and still finished four points adrift." Now they have taken that team, and changed the engine. Unless Aquilani is the second coming of Zidane, I dont think he is going to immedialely be better than Alonso

Theyre so f**king predictable, and so f**king pathetic...

Sky Sports are reporting that Christian Poulsen of Juventus is a possible replacement.

Juventus want so sell Poulsen and I'm pretty sure they wont mind if they aren't paid that much for him.

I liked Poulsen at Juventus - atleast until he got injured because after that he wasn't really the same. Still, Poulsen is no Alonso. He's more of a defensive strong, gritty player. He definitely doesn't have the passing ability like Alonso.

So Liverpool don't really need a Poulsen (unless Mascherano leaves), they need someone like Pirlo. Maybe they'll go for him. If they sell Macherano for a nice amount of money and get Pirlo and Poulsen they should be very pleased.

Well it looks like they're definitely going to get Aquilani.

Liverpool agree fee for Aquilani

Alonso, although an arsehole, is a quality player. Much better than Barry, why they went for the fad buy last Summer I'll never know. Well done for him getting out of that cesspit.

I'm still hoping Real's only defensive signing of the transfer window is Arbeloa...

Alonso - Diarra

------Kaka

That's not amongst the poorer midfields I've seen...

Well, I still hope they go after Poulsen, but its comforting to know they have blown pretty much all the money from this transfer in one shot on Aquilani. A signing that could work, but certainly there are no guarantees. Goal Italia's editorials described him as "another Dossena"

Im just glad they arent taking that money and making it the basis for a serious bid of David Silva. He's the guy who, in my opinion, they shouldve put their sole focus on at the start of the summer, rather than the Glen Johnson for Arbeloa + 14M masterstroke

I'm still hoping Real's only defensive signing of the transfer window is Arbeloa...

They already got Raul Albiol a few weeks ago. Though I have seen a wide variety of assessments on that signing. Good ol 'Lass' is gonna have a job to do shielding that backline

Goal Italia's editorials described him as "another Dossena"

Let's hope that's true. Dossena makes Arbeloa look good. Arbeloa makes Aurelio look good. Aurelio made Kalou look world class in the CL QF first leg. Enough said.

Arbeola - Ramos - Pepe - Albiol

Ronaldo - Sneijder/Alonso/Diarra- Kaka - Robben/Higuain

Benzema - Raul/Higuain

That actually isn't a bad line-up, they will be tough now, no doubt.

Arbeola - Ramos - Pepe - Albiol

Ronaldo - Sneijder/Alonso/Diarra- Kaka - Robben/Higuain

Benzema - Raul/Higuain

That actually isn't a bad line-up, they will be tough now, no doubt.

Lots of fancy names, but I'm still not convinced that they will do wonders.

My main concerns are these:

1. Is Pellegrini good enough to bring all the stars together and make a real team of them?

2. The defence has some good players but that hasn't helped them in the past. Can Pellegrini fix the defence and make the team not go all out attack all the time whilst exposing themselves in the back?

3. Who will be the leader - the backbone? I see lots of great skills but not necessary any great leaderships.

4. Who will be the gritty player - the engine who keeps the team moving? All teams need someone who can do the dirty work and also give the other players a kick up the a*se if needed. Doesn't have to be one player who does both though.

5. Lack of continuity has messed with teams before - how will it affect Real Madrid who seem to have a new lineup every year. The team never has time to settle before new players come and others leave.

I think there's more but I think those five are enough for the moment.

Real might win the league but in CL they'll fall short again especially if they come up against English sides. With all those fancy names, they really lack someone who'll pull the team up when they're being wrestled out of the game. They still need a JT to be honest but there's only one JT and he's ours. :lol:

Arbeola - Ramos - Pepe - Albiol

Ronaldo - Sneijder/Alonso/Diarra- Kaka - Robben/Higuain

Benzema - Raul/Higuain

That actually isn't a bad line-up, they will be tough now, no doubt.

I think Robben and Sneijder are definitely gonners in Madrid, and that they will deploy Ronaldo as he was at Man Utd. Basically as a front line winger/forward

-------------Casillas

-Ramos--Pepe--Albiol--Arbeloa (apparrently he played out left)

--------Lass/Gago

--------------------Alonso

--------------Kaka

-Ronaldo--------------Higuain/Raul

------------Benzema

is my guess. Eitherway, youre right. If they get it right they will be fearsome. Moos is talking about the potential questions, and I think a huge part of it will be Alonso and Lass or Gago and Kaka forming some kind of partnership. If they have an industrious midfield, that will drive the team forward.

Alsono could be a very very important addition. Great real teams of the past had those experienced, backbone players like Redondo or Maka to settle things down in teh middle of park. Its a bit like Xavi. Not a defensive mid, but certainly a huge presence in the midfield for Barca

Arbeola - Ramos - Pepe - Albiol

Ronaldo - Sneijder/Alonso/Diarra- Kaka - Robben/Higuain

Benzema - Raul/Higuain

That actually isn't a bad line-up, they will be tough now, no doubt.

It's not how they'll line up though. It's far more likely to be this... OK, it actually will be this.

Casillas

Ramos Pepe Albiol Arbeloa

Diarra Alonso

Ronaldo----- Kaka----- Raul

Benzema

Edited - Good point about Robben, but if he does stay, I'd be very worried about what they'll achieve next year.

Edited August 6, 200916 yr by Eggy McMuffin

Which Diarra are we talking about here? I think they've got two Diarras and I don't know which one is better.

Edited August 6, 200916 yr by kalpitv