Sounds like Joe Allen is on his way to Stoke. For £13m, could go up to £13.5m.


We have him for years. He doesn't do anything, gets injured when it looks like he might do something. Gets hated by fans.

Starts playing well, suits the new manager, plays well for an underdog at an international tournament, gets loved by fans, gets compared to Jesus...

...and we let him go for £1m-£2m less than we got him?

Hated by fans? I wouldn't go that far at all.

Fine. He wasn't liked by fans. Or highly rated. Constantly getting abuse or criticism. Was a popular player to criticise.

Is that better? My point remains.

Game ends 2-0, with Moreno getting the second goal on around the 87th minute..


Oh and our young goalkeeper Shamal George came on as a striker because we ran out of subs and got an injury.

Might be a better striker than Caulker.

Not much Klopp can really learn from that. Lucas getting injured pretty much caused mayhem with the system. Ings and Woodburn both dropped into midfield, and young goalkeeper Shamal George was thrown on up front

Many of those linked with leaving or who have left already I have no problem with if they went - Ibe, Kolo, Bogdan, Rossiter, Texeira, Canos, Benteke, Alberto and even Markovic and Wisdom. I positively want Moreno to go and if Hendo went for me it would not be the end of the world.

The ones I do not want to go who might are Allen, Lucas and Flanagan and it does seem as if Allen and/or Lucas going could happen. I would not be happy - the thing is tho we do have loads of players for these kind of positions so I guess something has to give and some will leave but Allen to me is playing really well and when I see the fees paid for some players who are nowhere near at his level if we sell him for 13m it would be criminal.

Lucas is less of a first team prospect (I honestly would have Allen in my team at the start of the season so good is he) but he is such a good presence round the club and for him to play sometimes would be OK - if we end up including him in any deal for Wijneldan I could live with it as I think Wijneldan is a good player but the bottom line is I would love Lucas to stay.

Been trying to find out the height of Shamal George, but nothing on a Google check - he looks gigantic, and probably still has more growing to do yet!

Best fun though seeing him come on and causing mayhem, good job it was a friendly!

USA here we come!

According to SSN, Liverpool have accepted an offer of £13m for Joe Allen.

That is an out and out steal if true.

Wonder if the club will receive any other bids. Don't think Celtic will give BR the money to sign Allen

No chance, it's probably double his annual budget!

Im surprised we're getting rid of allen and for only 13m talk about bargain. He had a pretty decent euros and didn't klopp describe him once as his perfect player. I was excecting him to play a big role this season.

A god signing for Stoke, poor deal for Liverpool

Looks like Gini Wijnalsdum is Liverpool bound for £25m. Slightly disappointed we couldn't come to a swap deal.

But from an NUFC perspective he's a talented lad, he'll get you goals and you'll love him for it but he never chipped in with a competitive away goal for us and he needs to be far more consistent. But hopefully for him Anfield will rub off well on him.

I'd have rather kept Joe Allen than signed Wijnaldum to be honest.

Very surprised you're letting Allen go... He seemed a good fit

He had very few full matches last season, mostly came on as a sub. He wants to start and finish matches, something we can't guarantee he'll get sadly, other teams can give him that.

No matter where he goes I think he will be classed as one of ours, good player, did well by us and holds respect from most of us. I'm sad to see him go, but I wish him all the best.

Having defended Allen constantly, I'm aware of the fact some fans never really appreciated what he did. He was never a rampaging goal scoring midfielder spaying Hollywood balls around the pitch - but for some reason I think some fans expect that of every midfielder that pulls on a Liverpool shirt these days. He was an excellent continuation player who rarely wasted possession and interrupted opposition attacks. His lack of goals and assists seemed to be damning for some and that is unfair in a well-rounded midfield. I've compared him to Carrick in the past in that he is excellent in what he does but the chemistry of the midfield has to be spot on to accommodate such a player without compromising goals and creativity.

I think Klopp wants more goals and creativity from our midfield, even the more functional ones as he likes a goal threat to come from all areas of the pitch. And I think that's what's led to Joe Allen's departure. I think Klopp has no issues with him as a player but he just doesn't quite meet the blueprint.

I personally think Joe never let us down given the constraints of what he offers a team and some of the criticism was unfair and more from frustration and being spoilt ay having Aden blessed by the likes of Gerrard over the years. Lucas was the same once he had transitioned into a defensive midfielder (he was poor in the early days during that transition).

Emre Can may suffer similarly but he is more versatile and dynamic. Many of Klopp's signings offer a goal threat (Mane, Grujic and the impending Wijnaldum) in areas of the pitch we've not recently been that productive from.

I don't mind a player not being very versatile as long as he is good at what he does. Allen was one of the best at what he does..

I totally agree. I suspect though that Klopp will be more comfortable with a player that does Allen's job at say 80% at least yet adds far more in terms of goals and/or creativity. Grujic looks to be along those lines so pushing the likes of Allen, Henderson and Lucas back in the pecking order. It'll be interesting to see how our midfield and attack looks given all our options. I'm sure some more departures are inevitable.

I think Klopp is looking at this another way as well. After the sick bay fiasco of last season, where he struggled to cover our sicknotes, these last two buys are about as versatile as you can get, and between them should cover most field positions for him. I'm going to be very interested in who he deems his first team to consist of, it's going to be a fascinating watch, and he needs to get it spot on for the first match - away to Arsenal!

Shame about Allen, been a cracking player for us

Very sad to see Allen go but I think it's one of those situations where he needs to go to get the game time he deserves. £13m is a steal which suggests he's pushed for it from within.

I'll be honest, I'm not overy enthrawled by the signings we've made so far. I'll wait to see how they work out in the league but it feels to me like we're slipping behind the big teams this summer.

yeah i am but undecided on the signings so far. Really not sure so far and we have overspent on two players for sure. good players no doubt but we have paid more then we should have.

But we do need to be realistic, seen on the web how some fans look at UTD and ask why are they signing certain players when they are not in champions league and we are not. The club will not pay them huge wages, even if we was in the CL it would be no different.

Utd are paying ibra £200,000+, Pogba been offered £300,000 apparently, Rooney is on £300,000+ De Gea must be £100,000+

thats just a few players named. liverpool cannot compete with wages like that.

Losing Allen is a shame. He has always been quality for us.

shrewd signing for stoke if deal goes through.

I would rather have kept Joe Allen and still sign Wijnaldum

At last we have bought a player we have heard of

You've not heard of Sadio Mane?

Besides, who cares if we've heard of them or not? I personally had never heard of Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso or Pepe Reina before we signed them. Same goes for Lucas Leiva, Martin Skrtel, Alvaro Arbeloa, Luis Garcia or Emre Can.