Kolo Toure gives a ‘candid’ interview following his switch from Arsenal to Manchester City.  Skip to the 0:50 mark to hear the defender’s Freudian slip about the lure of his City move!

Alvaro Arbeloa has all but completed his move to Real Madrid, and rumor has it Xabi Alonso is also in the Spanish capital to hammer out a possible transfer to the Galacticos.  If such whispers are to be believed, then it would be hard to ignore similar reports that Liverpool are lining up Roma’s Alberto Aquilani as a replacement.

If Alonso’s proposed move goes through, Liverpool will be approximately £30m richer but one Deep-Lying Playmaker poorer.  While Alonso is a class player, such a transfer could hardly be considered robbery.  (Liverpool purchased the Basque midfielder from Real Sociedad in 2004 for £10.5m, so they’d be making almost £20m in profit.)

It’s believed that Aquilani would only cost around £15-20m, leaving Rafa Benitez with £10-15m left over to sign at least one more player.  You’d be looking at a striker as an understudy to Torres, a left winger to compete with Riera, or if Andrea Dossena goes to Napoli then maybe a backup fullback.  Sounds great on paper, right?

Indeed it would be hard to fault Benitez for doing such business.  Just one year ago he was ready to let Xabi Alonso go for £15 to be replaced with Gareth Barry.  (It must also be noted that in the same vein, it would be hard to fault Alonso for wanting to go to Real, given last summer’s circumstances.)  And Aquilani is nothing short of a very talented player.  Excellent poise on the ball, a healthy passing range, and deadly long range shooting make him a desirable man for any midfield.  He can also hit lovely free kicks, yet finds himself behind the indispensable Totti for his club, and Pirlo for Italy.  But if De Rossi is the heir apparent to Totti in passion for Roma, Aquilani is the man with the closest level of ability to the Roman captain.  The only knock on him is his reputation for injury, no pun intended.

Bags are packed?

But he doesn’t exactly play the same role as Alonso.  While Alonso pulls the strings from just in front of the back four, Aquilani enjoys marauding forward closer to the strikers, similar to Steven Gerrard.  This should be the particularly troubling aspect for Liverpool fans.  Losing Alonso means losing more than just a quality central midfielder.  The shape, the transition from defense to attack, the assurance of possession- all take on a different nature without Alonso.  It’s not to say that Aquilani couldn’t learn to playmake from deeper, but could he learn it immediately?

This is a Liverpool side finally on the brink of greatness, coming so close last season, suddenly being forced into altering the preferred formation could prove highly damaging.  Now is the time when Benitez must find players who fit the few, very specific roles in his team; it is not the time to buy players and adjust his team to fit their abilities.

Liverpool haven’t won a trophy in 3 years, an eternity at such a massive club, and serious eyebrows will be raised if they endure another year without silverware.  Barcelona have been linked not-so-sublty with Javier Mascherano, and such transfer rumors will only become more attractive to Red players if Liverpool cannot bring trophies.  It’s no longer about acquiring good players for Liverpool, as it has been in the first few years of the Rafalution, it’s about assembling a cast of the right players.

I’ve never found this quite funny, but it always seems to crack the English up.  If you’ve been following the pre-season friendlies involving the top clubs this summer, the video might look familiar.

Manchester United have produced some entertaining scorelines on their Asian tour, but their performances have hardly been the dominant displays of champions.  After that, all the other top clubs’ matches have been even more dreadful.  Real Madrid and Liverpool have stuttered all summer to produce quality, Barcelona are only today beginning their warm up games, and the World Football Challenge has been a snooze fest.

I had the ‘pleasure’ of attending Chlesea’s 2-0 win over Inter at the Rose Bowl on Tuesday, and couldn’t have been any more underwhlemed.  This was the treat of two top clubs pitted against each other I’d been awaiting since May, Mourinho getting his chance to kill his old club.  But the only passion I witnessed was a couple nippy tackles, and the 81,000 fans eagerly awaiting the Mexican wave.

There was an undeniable feeling that both teams and managers were simply going through the motions.  Chelsea and Inter fielded typical friendly sides with hosts of unknowns getting their chances.  Chelsea were decisively stronger, albeit due to the depth of their squad rather than any meaningful desire by Ancelotti.  Mourinho played Cambiasso and Viera in the center, clearly limiting any bright ideas for the sporadic Inter attacks.  John Terry played well, as if it could be his last in a Blue shirt.  Ibrahimovic also sparked life into a dull affair upon his introduction with 15 minutes to go, which was definitely his last appearance in Inter colors.  Balotelli showed his youth, the clubs made a profit, and scores of vuvuzela’s blared in my ears all evening.  But what did I expect, this was only a friendly after all.

Few of the marquee pre-season matches live up to the hype, and it’s the fans who inevitably pay the price.  Perhaps clubs should only play against minnows they can humiliate by dozens of goals, a la Villarreal.  But then, how could the clubs sell shirts and the promoters peddle tickets?  Such has become the world of football.  Here’s hoping to some more thrilling pre-season friendlies in the final month before the start of the new season…

During Liverpool’s 1-0 pre-season defeat to Rapid Vienna, Fernando Torres exhibited some of his greedy striker’s instincts from the sidelines.  The cameras managed to capture him taking a much larger bite of winger Albert Riera’s bun than was previously agreed.  Yes, the off season can actually be this slow.

Image via Gambling911

I remained conspicuously silent after the United States upset Spain in the Confederations Cup semis, then lost a heart breaker to Brazil in the finals.  I sat back, admittedly smirking while the talking heads on ‘Around the Horn,’  ‘Pardon the Interruption,’ and the like jumped on and off the US Soccer bandwagon.  I listened while people whom I’ve never heard speak of the sport weighed in with their opinions of the American performances and chances for World Cup 2010.  And I waited to write about the team until the conclusion of the Gold Cup, so I could establish a more balanced, detached perspective.  But seeing as the squad Bob Bradley has selected to wear the red, white, and blue for the GC is hardly the same one which will return to South Africa, now is as good a time as any to revisit the US National Team, warts and all.

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Image via The Mirror

Check out this excellent assesment of the Deep-Lying Playmaker in modern football.

Pirlo and Alonso are openly considered to be the premier prototypes of the position, which often explains the frequent transfer rumors surrounding both.   Ironically, I’d argue that the two players with the qualities and mentality best suited to rival their mastery of the DLP are their compatriots, Daniele De Rossi and (to some degree) Cesc Fabregas.

Manchester United have acquired the services of one Michael Owen, former Liverpool striker who also spent time at Real Madrid and Newcastle.  A 29-year-old player who has the CV of a champion but an injury sheet David Busst wouldn’t envy.  A former European Player of the Year who was reduced to marketing himself this summer to potential buyers.  Check out the 32 page brochure his representatives produced and distributed to a number of European clubs.

It exemplifies what’s been a peculiar transfer market for Liverpool fans thus far.  United supporters revel in signing one of Liverpool’s best ever players, but they’ve also not-so-subtly expressed their concerns over the quality of today’s Michael Owen.  And rightfully so.  Only 71 appearances and 26 goals in his last four seasons at Newcastle, statistics which pale in comparison to those he recorded in his younger days on Merseyside (or even those during his single season role of super sub at Madrid).  Watch him in action and it’s obvious he’s missing shots he used to score for fun, and his trademark mercurial pace has all but disappeared.

Yet Fergie wanted him.  While many Liverpool fans now regard Owen to be a traitor for this move, even more are snickering at United wasting their efforts and wages on a “washed-up mercenary.”  And they are wondering how deep the rabbit hole goes.  Ronaldo completed his diva-like exit from Old Trafford, and Carlos Tevez is eyeing a swap to City, citing a lack of respect from Ferguson.  Benzema, long courted by Manchester United, spurned their advances last week for the Bernabeu.  They appear poised to sign the impressive French midfielder Gabriel Obertan, but have yet to make a ‘major’ signing.  While talented, Obertan is not Ribery.  And Michael Owen is clearly no David Villa, nor is Valencia as proven as Ronaldo.

Not Jealous of Michael Owen

Meanwhile, Liverpool completed the signing of English right-back Glen Johnson from Portsmouth for £18m.  A massive price for a defender by Liverpool standards, but necessary to upgrade one of their few problem areas of last season.  It’s also a priority for Benitez to boost the number of English players in his squad, given Champions League and potential 6 +5 restrictions on foreign players.  For once, it is Liverpool spending high on top players.  For once, it is United being rejected by players of a similar caliber.  Such could still come to change in the coming weeks, but any major transfer will face stiff competition from City and Madrid.

What is clear is that United are not the team of old.  The era of its Golden Generation has passed, and such began to show last season.  Twice they were handily beaten by Liverpool, and would not have retained the Premiership title had the Anfielders been more clinical against inferior opposition.  And United were played off the pitch by Barcelona in the CL Final, after favorable draws saw them eyeing a repeat of their Moscow triumph.  Ferguson hasn’t many years left in his managerial career, and he’s embarking on perhaps the greatest task he’s faced as United boss: building a Manchester Unite squad to last and compete after he has retired.  Perhaps Michael Owen and the rest of the Boys of Summer will prove a stroke of genius, but if they do not, Manchester United may be getting themselves into a rare position of difficult uncertainty, a parting gift from their greatest ever manager.

Tags: Liverpool, Manchester United, Owen