[Link] Gary Hooper to Liverpool

If we sell Hooper for 6million pounds of sterling pennies and buy the likes of Murphy, Griffiths and Daly we might as well send an email to UEFA officially withdrawing from all proffessional competition and be done with the whole * thing.

 

The future for us is buying undiscovered players from untapped leagues who are capable of playing and competing in the champions league while also having huge potential resale values Jamie Murphy falls into none of those category's and would only weaken our team and in all honesty he wouldn't even get in our match day squads

 

Exactly the plan, we have a great foundation of players who are happy to stay long term. The bank balance is looking very rosy too.

Lenny will always unearth good players and we're on track to look at getting a couple of guys in, who could be worth big money in the future as well as the local talent.

I mean, where did Watt come from? How much did we pay for him again? Would Mascherano fancy playing against Watt or Gary Hooper? Ambrose, look at Ambrose, how many Champions League games did he play before walking into big ties against Barcelona.

We've got one * of a scouting network and i'm sorry, but i got bored with Hooper. Although i'm thinking he's bound to score now against Spartak I'm thinking first and the last goal, 3-2 home win?

 

But without a player of Hooper's quality we could struggle to get into the Champions League next season. I'd rather we got £30m from that than £10m from replacing him with Murphy. IF we are to sell him I'd expect us to replace him with a real quality striker. And if we sold all our top players for £10m and replace them with £500,000 players we could make £100m and win the league but we'd struggle to get anywhere in Europe and would have a load of money but struggle to reinvest it because our squad would be really big.

As much as I like buying young Scottish players I don't see anyone in the league really good enough for us at the moment. No-one really in the mould of James McCarthy or Steven Fletcher who seems destined to play at the top end of the Premier League (Maybe Ryan Fraser, but not proven yet). Kenny McLean, Leigh Griffiths and Gary Mackay-Steven I'd take as back-up but McLean's 20 and the other two are 22 so not really that young. I'd much rather we spent £5m-£6m on a real quality player and get in one or two other cheap but good players.

Our current first team squad is about 16 first team players who are all really top quality. Plus a few others who aren't quite as good and a few youngsters. I'd like to see us have 20 really top quality players plus a few other youngsters. Rather than like under Strachan where we had about 6 top quality players, 10 good players than another 10 standard SPL players. Quality over quantity for me. I think we have the funds and scouting team to do that. If they are to spend £5m it's not going to be on guys like Sammy, JVOH, Gravesen or Brown.

 

If we were to sell Hooper I'd love to see Charlie Austin replace him he's obviously a well known player in the lower leagues of England and has rediscovered the form he showed at swindon before he got injured he can also header the ball which is something we've been crying out for

 

Griffiths and Daly, nah, screw that. Lenny wanted to sign Murphy before, what is he 23-24. Before i didn't think Johnny Russell would be a good fit, but he's a poacher and so is Hooper. Lenny will have other players in mind, but these guys are the local talent and you find a balance with that.

We're just talking about losing one player, not the whole team. I just don't think it's hard to find a striker that can tap the ball into the net from five yards out.

 

He's not really. More like Stokes.

 

Aye, when Mackay-Stevens is out the team

 

Murphy and Griffiths are garbage.

Griffiths is a cheap mans Stokes/Riordan and Murphy is like Templeton a decent dribbler but powderpuff in every other department, cant shoot, cross, no intelligence. I thought Murphy would have been quite good as hes a decent height but hes not progressed in years if anything hes regressed, if he was stronger and quicker he could have been similar to Steven Fletcher but hes more like Richie Foran.

If we are signing any SPL players it should be Russell and maybe Mackay-Steven.

 

Hooper is far more than just a poacher or someone who can tap the ball into the net from 5 yards out. yes he is going through a run of bad form but when he rediscovers his form you won't find a striker in this league who is even half as good as him

 

Thing is Hooper's an absolute gent, a great ambassador for the club and he had that spark in his eye against Hearts last week, totally up for it. Lenny will fight tooth and nail to keep him, so maybe he'll hang around at least until the end of the season.

 

When you look at it, our record on player retention in the last decade has been superb, right from Henrik thru to the present.

It's pretty rare for us to lose a player we really wanted to keep, and on the rare occasions we have - Stan, Aiden - we have got top dollar.

Only bargain sale I can remember recently was Artur - and I'm not convinced of how much we really wanted to keep him - his top form was a couple of seasons in the past.

I think we will hang on to Gary if he's still doing the business for us.

 

Johnny Russell has been rather pish this season so far and in my opinion over hyped by our support because he winds up the huns. He is no better than Goodwillie was. He aint exactly doing great now either, is he?

Murphy - I would only take a punt on him if he was on a free transfer. He looks decent enough but I think SPL would be his ceiling.

Hooper - Not all that bothered if we sell him for the right money. I like him, but there is something about him that bothers me sometimes. Maybe its how he go's missing for large chunks of the season/matches. Or his moaning wee face or fake limp when the chips are down.

Good player, but would bite your hand off for 10m plus for him.

 

In terms of playing at the very top (Champions League) Liverpool won't be seeing that for a good few years I don't think. Unless players leave us to go to a top 4 side in England, then as far as i'm concerned, they have left purely for money. Johnny Russell is a far superior player to Jamie Murphy IMO. We should have signed Russell in the summer I think. I know he hasn't had the greatest start to this season but I think that is down to the fact he thought he was coming to Parkhead, and his head has gone down slightly as it never materialised. I would still take him in January, never stops running, he is quick, good technical ability and can score goals. If Mackay-Steven can find the form of last season when he gets back from injury then he is another I would take in a second.

 

I have to agree with all of this

 

nowadays we are a selling club so hooper,wanyama will leave for big fees and we will reinvest the money and hopefully the cycle will go on and on,

 

Don't mind if Hooper leave's, Must be reason's he is holding off his contract renewal, If he think's there's another club bigger than Celtic. Then goodluck to him.

 

I don't think hooper has looked that interested this season. Hasn't don any interviews or anything. I wouldn't be surprised if he left.

 

Perhaps I could have made myself clearer by stating strike problems but as the thread is about Hooper I would have thought it obvious I was referring to their problems upfront.

You say he is old. Nope, not true.

He is at least ten years younger than Teddy Sheringham was before he played his last game in the Premiership.

 

Totally agree with your reasoning Hand but in my opinion he is a far superior finisher to Carroll and the ideal partner for Suarez.