Transfer Deadline Day...!!!!

First my thoughts on Mascherano and Meireles. I was obviously sad to see Mascher sold but I had long since accepted it was inevitable. In fact, I was surprised to see him still at the club and in the team for our opening game against Arsenal. A few supporters have turned on him after reports leaked from the club suggested he basically went on strike ahead of the City game. However, I have since heard counter claims that he did no such thing and would have been willing to play if selected. Given my distrust of every official at our club at the moment, I am prepared to give the player the benefit of the doubt. Ultimately, I have sympathy over his situation. His wife couldn’t settle here on Merseyside and he didn't want to be away from his wife and family. Fair enough. Given the choice, I would rather live and work in Barcelona than on Merseyside with the rotten weather we have had here for the last four years or so. Plus Barca are currently one of the biggest clubs in the world, if not the biggest, and we are clearly a club in decline.

He has been a great player for us since joining from West Ham in 2007. He will be missed. However, there were weaknesses to his game that we now have the opportunity to improve upon. There is no one better in world football at breaking up opponents’ attacks than the terrier-like Argentinean but his distribution is limited and his goal record is pretty abysmal. Meireles will bring far more creativity and will score more goals.

Ideally, Meireles would have been the replacement for Alonso last year (or even Lucas this year in the first team) and would be lining up alongside Mascherano. Now it looks like a straight battle between Lucas and Poulsen to partner Meireles. Poulsen has looked decent in the second halves against Trabzonspor at home and away but I was extremely disappointed with him in our lousy 1-0 win over West Brom on Sunday. Lucas is a worker and would appear to be the natural successor to Mascherano but lacks that bit of quality in his passing.

I’m pleased with the signing of Meireles. At 27, he is unlikely to improve or enhance his value but we are getting a player in his peak years. I think he will improve our first team and bring a bit of control and quality to our midfield.

The one transfer certain to be completed today is that of Paul Konchesky from Fulham. I have to be honest and say this one leaves me with a sinking feeling in my stomach. I just don’t believe Konchesky will improve us. My feeling is that he is average at best and that Insua and Aurelio are as good if not better. With Insua qualifying as a home-grown player, it makes no sense to me to freeze out a young prospect and spend between £3-5m on an average 29-year old. Having said that, I concede that I have not watched Konchesky week-in, week-out and so I am not qualified to make a fair assessment on his ability. In fairness, I never thought the last full-back we signed from Fulham, Steve Finnan, would be anything other than steady yet he enjoyed two truly excellent seasons in 2005-06 and 2006-07 in which I would have said he was the best around. In fact in 2006-07 I voted him Player of the Season. I don’t expect to be giving Konchesky similar accolades in the next couple of years but if he can do a steady job then at least it would temporarily put an end to left-back being a problem position and allow Agger to return to central defence.

What I cannot accept is the decision to sell Lauri Dalla Valle to Fulham as part of the deal. This young lad is considered a hot prospect. We’ve already sold Kristian Nemeth to Olympiakos. These two were touted as potentially great strikers of the future. Certainly in Nemeth’s case, Hodgson can’t possibly have had a good enough look to make any balanced decision about the player’s future. Dalla Valle is only 18 and still has a long time to blossom. To me, this just smacks of Hodgson’s short-sightedness. As I’ve said before, he is not a club builder – mainly because he is never at a club long enough to benefit from the foundations he might lay. His sole focus is on the season ahead. He won’t be Liverpool’s manager by the time Nemeth and Dalla Valle would have been ready to challenge for first-team places so to him, a short-term signing like Konchesky is more useful. Twat.

It still baffles me why Insua has been so ruthlessly frozen out by Hodgson and my theory remains that the new boss is simply trying to distance himself from his predecessor by ditching a player whom many fans and pundits criticised Rafa for selecting last season. Given Insua will certainly be excluded from the 25-man squad announced after today, he will surely be sold if any bids come in for him and if not, probably loaned out for the season.

The writing appears to be on the wall for Nabil El Zhar and Damien Plessis. Both are over 21 and neither qualify as home-grown players. Neither, in honesty, are good enough to warrant a place in Liverpool’s squad so I expect both to move on today one way or another.

It is also very well known that we need a striker. We’ve been strongly linked with West Ham’s Carlton Cole. I think Cole is a cracking player but given Torres’ injury problems, to me it would make no sense to sign a player with an even worse fitness record. Having said that, I can’t see another striker in the Premiership whom I would rather sign. With Hodgson seemingly being obsessed with only signing English players, he fits that bill. I think I’d rather go for a less-well known foreigner with the potential to be a star of the future. We have also been linked with PSV’s Ola Toivonen. I’ve never seen the Swedish international play but I have to say his goal to game ratio looks pretty unimpressive given he plays in Holland. 24 goals in 50 games works out as a goal every 2 games. By comparison, Dirk Kuyt scored a goal every 1.4 games for Feyenoord and he has hardly been prolific in the Premiership. Ultimately, the most important thing is that we do sign a striker.

I also think we need a winger or two although I don’t expect to sign one today. There have been no strong links with any wingers. Personally, I would like to see us combine the striker and winger problem and sign Villa’s Ashley Young. Villa are in crisis and have no permanent manager. Their recent transfer business suggests they are no longer able or willing to be a spending club after a significant lay out in recent seasons failed to get them into the Champions League. I think a bid of £15m or so might be enough. Ultimately, that is just Fantasy Football though and it is something I would be shocked to see actually happen.