[King Kenny]

Bye bye Pennant.

Pennant on way out as Liverpool covet Bentley

By Sam Wallace, Football Correspondent
Saturday, 17 May 2008

Jermaine Pennant was officially told by Rafael Benitez yesterday that he can leave Liverpool this summer as the club try to organise
their resources to muster a serious bid for the Blackburn Rovers winger David Bentley. Pennant is a long-term target of Newcastle
and Benitez is looking, at the very least, to recoup the £6.7m he spent on the player in 2006.
Pennant had been left to wait to learn his fate at Liverpool, although his gradual marginalisation this season, culminating in his
omission from the squad for the final two League games, was a clear indicator that his time was up at Anfield. The 25-year-old was
also one of three players offered as a potential makeweight in the £10m-rated deal to bring Gareth Barry to Liverpool. Yesterday,
Benitez told Pennant, who has also attracted the interest of West Ham, that he could leave if the club got a price they thought was
acceptable.
The top target to replace Pennant is Bentley who has already turned down a new contract at Blackburn worth between £40,000 and
£50,000 a week - he has three years on his existing deal. Bentley would cost around £15m and is in demand this summer because clubs
are eager to recruit young English players in case Fifa push through their quotas proposal that would insist on a certain ratio of
homegrown players in every first XI.
For reasons that he has kept to himself, Benitez has insisted that the Liverpool players train from Wednesday to Friday this week
although their season is over. While every other Premier League club barring Manchester United, Chelsea and Portsmouth have sent
their players on holiday for the summer, the Liverpool manager called his squad in this week. More pressing for Benitez, however, is
finding the funds to refit his squad again this summer.
Bentley for Pennant may look like a natural swap but the Liverpool manager will encounter competition from Chelsea and Tottenham for
Bentley, although the strength of the London clubs' interest in the player is not yet clear. In the meantime, Benitez is trying to
wring as much money as possible out of fees for his saleable assets in order to strengthen his squad.
Peter Crouch, valued at £15m by Benitez earlier this month, is not in talks with Portsmouth, as has been reported. The England
striker, who is part of Fabio Capello's squad for the two end-of-season friendlies, is still waiting to learn whether the Liverpool
manager is serious about demanding such an unrealistic fee for him. Portsmouth have already denied they were in negotiations for
Crouch who has one year left on his contract and has not yet been given permission by Liverpool to discuss personal terms with any
other club.
Scott Carson has also expressed dismay at the £10m price that Benitez has imposed on him. Now it seems the Spaniard's prohibitive
valuations of both the England goalkeeper and Crouch are beginning to work against him as he tries to raise money quickly for summer
signings. Potential clubs are simply waiting for the valuations to drop before they even begin to consider negotiating for the
players in question. John Arne Riise has attracted interest from Serie A clubs as well as Newcastle and is another whom Benitez
wants to use to raise cash.
The Liverpool manager needs something to break the current impasse in his club's transfer dealings. The Barry deal with Aston Villa
is currently going nowhere; Crouch's future is unresolved and there is still the distinct possibility that Dubai International
Capital will gain control of the club at some point this summer. Against that backdrop there will have to be some compromise over
the next few weeks if Benitez is to get the ball rolling on his plans for this summer.
So far he has tied up the signing of the Swiss right-back Philipp Degen, 25, who will sign a four-year deal when he becomes a free
agent later this month. The Borussia Dortmund player has been a long-term target for Benitez and he tried to sign him when he was
Valencia manager just before he left for Liverpool in 2004.
Benitez said yesterday he was glad about the return of Sammy Lee to Liverpool as his assistant. "He knows about the passion of the
club and about the standards that we set here so that will make it much easier for him to settle into his new role," Benitez said.

http://www.independent.co.uk/sport/f...ey-829969.html

So it looks like we may be getting Barry and Degen?

Riise attracting Italian clubs is interesting.

[Role Model]

I'll be annoyed if Bentley leaves Blackburn and goes to anyone other than us.

[King Kenny]

You guys are interested in him too?

[Emperor DC]

I firmly believe Pennant is worth another season but he won't get a chance seeming that Rafa tends to favour Yossi off the bench. Shame too, always liked him.

[King Kenny]

I've liked Pennant too, but I knew his time was coming to an end.

[KME]

Yossi comes off the bench and plays on the left

Kuyt is always on the right and rarely goes off to be replaced, that is the reason for Pennant getting little game time.

And I really don't want Degen.

[Rex Regum]

Pennant is a good squad player, and I'm surprised he's not staying around just for that. I doubt he cares that much whether he gets first team football or not. He's not the most committed player and I thought he'd be happy enough collecting his check and getting the occasional match. Then again, if Newcastle are interested in him, he can probably double his wage, as Newcastle are known to splash the cash.

[KME]

Pennant is very unintelligent, I'm not sure he notices when he plays.

His best quote ever is

"I wanted to play a little bit more longer"

[Emperor DC]

Originally Posted by KME

Yossi comes off the bench and plays on the left

Kuyt is always on the right and rarely goes off to be replaced, that is the reason for Pennant getting little game time.

And I really don't want Degen.

...and?

All I was proclaiming was that Yossi was/is always the one coming off of the bench, not Pennant, not until games where nothing mattered.

I would keep him on, unless we are getting a Winger. If not, foolish to release him. Very foolish.

[Ste]

Why we are selling our best winger I do not know.

He showed glimpses in the 2006-2007 season of the partnership he and Crouch could have, shame neither are going to be there next year.