Rafa Benitez may not have the funds of his main title rivals Chelsea and Manchester United but he is reported to be targeting a number of cut-price imports to boost an already impressive squad. The first arrivals are thought to be currently plying their trade in both Germany and Holland.
Jakub Blaszczykowski: The Powerful Pole
Reports in both Poland and Germany suggest Liverpool are set to launch a fresh £7m bid for Borussia Dortmund winger Jakub Blaszczykowski this summer after the star has made an impressive return to fitness following a long injury lay-off. He has been on Rafa Benitez’s radar for a while but after an impressive end to the Bundesliga season, Liverpool look set to finally get their man.
Though the 23-year-old Polish international is relatively unknown of in this country, he is highly-rated in Europe and would finally add balance and competition to the right-side of midfield without sacrificing the team’s work ethic.
Blaszczykowski is an attacking right winger and would finally provide expertise in that position to a Reds side that has been using Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt in that role to good effect. The Pole would provide both the width and guile that the team has been crying out for to end Manchester United’s recent domination.
The Polish international begun his career with Wisla Krakow in his homeland. He made a total of 51 League appearances over 3 seasons and scored 4 goals before a 3 million Euro move to Germany.
In his first season in the Bundesliga, Blaszczykowski impressed playing the majority of the time on the right wing where his pace and dribbling ability could be used to maximum affect. However, he has also been used as a wing-back on occasions so his versatility would certainly appeal to Benitez.
The 5 ft 9 winger made 24 League appearances (22 starts) in his debut season for Borussia as the club finished a disappointing 13th. However, last season Blaszczykowski only played in 24 league games (20 starts) after being sidelined through injury. His impact on the side cannot be underestimated. After all, since his return to the team, Borussia were beaten just once (by the eventual champions Wolfsburg) in 10 league matches home and away including 8 wins.
The 23-year-old has made 21 appearances for his country and scored twice. He was unfortunate not to play a part at Euro 2008 as he had to withdraw through to injury despite being named in the squad. In fact, the winger was a key component to Poland’s excellent qualification campaign as was sorely missed in the finals.
If he does sign for Liverpool then their fans won’t have to worry about getting his long name on the back of their replica shirts as he usually prefers ‘Kuba’ as a shortened version of his Christian name. If Benitez can bring in this quick, talented winger then Liverpool will be even stronger in terms of balance and personnel for next season’s campaign. At £7m the Pole would also be relatively cheap with Ryan Babel, Andrey Voronin, Andrea Dossena and Jermaine Pennant all expected to be sold to raise funds.
Jakub Blaszczykowski: The Powerful Pole
Reports in both Poland and Germany suggest Liverpool are set to launch a fresh £7m bid for Borussia Dortmund winger Jakub Blaszczykowski this summer after the star has made an impressive return to fitness following a long injury lay-off. He has been on Rafa Benitez’s radar for a while but after an impressive end to the Bundesliga season, Liverpool look set to finally get their man.
Though the 23-year-old Polish international is relatively unknown of in this country, he is highly-rated in Europe and would finally add balance and competition to the right-side of midfield without sacrificing the team’s work ethic.
Blaszczykowski is an attacking right winger and would finally provide expertise in that position to a Reds side that has been using Dutch forward Dirk Kuyt in that role to good effect. The Pole would provide both the width and guile that the team has been crying out for to end Manchester United’s recent domination.
The Polish international begun his career with Wisla Krakow in his homeland. He made a total of 51 League appearances over 3 seasons and scored 4 goals before a 3 million Euro move to Germany.
In his first season in the Bundesliga, Blaszczykowski impressed playing the majority of the time on the right wing where his pace and dribbling ability could be used to maximum affect. However, he has also been used as a wing-back on occasions so his versatility would certainly appeal to Benitez.
The 5 ft 9 winger made 24 League appearances (22 starts) in his debut season for Borussia as the club finished a disappointing 13th. However, last season Blaszczykowski only played in 24 league games (20 starts) after being sidelined through injury. His impact on the side cannot be underestimated. After all, since his return to the team, Borussia were beaten just once (by the eventual champions Wolfsburg) in 10 league matches home and away including 8 wins.
The 23-year-old has made 21 appearances for his country and scored twice. He was unfortunate not to play a part at Euro 2008 as he had to withdraw through to injury despite being named in the squad. In fact, the winger was a key component to Poland’s excellent qualification campaign as was sorely missed in the finals.
If he does sign for Liverpool then their fans won’t have to worry about getting his long name on the back of their replica shirts as he usually prefers ‘Kuba’ as a shortened version of his Christian name. If Benitez can bring in this quick, talented winger then Liverpool will be even stronger in terms of balance and personnel for next season’s campaign. At £7m the Pole would also be relatively cheap with Ryan Babel, Andrey Voronin, Andrea Dossena and Jermaine Pennant all expected to be sold to raise funds.
Reports in the Dutch and Croatian press are continuing to gather pace regarding a move to Liverpool for Danijel Pranjic this summer. It was thought that the star would be joining Bayern Munich after the German club announced he was signing earlier this month. However, Heerenveen director Ume Kuiper has admitted the clubs are some way apart on the fee which may allow Liverpool to make a late move.
Kuiper told the club’s website, “There still is a big gap that we need to close. We grant Pranjic this transfer, but there is a price tag that needs to be paid.
“This kind of thing always take a while. We don’t know how this will end.”
Danijel Pranjic: The Flying Croat
The Heerenveen star had spoken out regarding the increased speculation and his comments suggest he would welcome a move to Anfield.
The Croat told Omroep Friesland when questioned about Liverpool interest, “I still don’t know, that is a difficult question to answer.”
“I have to wait until the transfer period and then I will see.
“In every newspaper they called me and I was live on television and they heard something about Liverpool but I cannot say anything about it.
“It was in the newspaper that is all I know. Yes of course [it would be a dream club].”
The 27-year-old has been plying his trade with Dutch outfit Heerenveen in the Eredivisie where he has been playing for the past 4 seasons. He is able to perform any left-sided role and enjoyed a superb campaign in Holland last season after scoring an impressive 16 goals in 30 League appearances which suggests he is at the top of his game at the moment. His overall League record for the club reads 32 goals in 129 (all starts) games and he’d be reportedly available at a bargain figure of around £5M.
He played every minute of all 4 Euro 2008 games for Croatia playing a part in 2 goals. Pranjic has played 22 times for his country and would be a useful signing for Liverpool as he would not only provide competition for Albert Riera on the left wing but also for Fabio Aurelio at left-back. Croatians have shown they are suited to Premier League football so if Liverpool make a late move, expect Pranjic to follow the likes of Asanovic, Suker, Stimac, Bilic, Eduardo Silva, Kranjcar and Modric to England this summer.
The Heerenveen star had spoken out regarding the increased speculation and his comments suggest he would welcome a move to Anfield.
The Croat told Omroep Friesland when questioned about Liverpool interest, “I still don’t know, that is a difficult question to answer.”
“I have to wait until the transfer period and then I will see.
“In every newspaper they called me and I was live on television and they heard something about Liverpool but I cannot say anything about it.
“It was in the newspaper that is all I know. Yes of course [it would be a dream club].”
The 27-year-old has been plying his trade with Dutch outfit Heerenveen in the Eredivisie where he has been playing for the past 4 seasons. He is able to perform any left-sided role and enjoyed a superb campaign in Holland last season after scoring an impressive 16 goals in 30 League appearances which suggests he is at the top of his game at the moment. His overall League record for the club reads 32 goals in 129 (all starts) games and he’d be reportedly available at a bargain figure of around £5M.
He played every minute of all 4 Euro 2008 games for Croatia playing a part in 2 goals. Pranjic has played 22 times for his country and would be a useful signing for Liverpool as he would not only provide competition for Albert Riera on the left wing but also for Fabio Aurelio at left-back. Croatians have shown they are suited to Premier League football so if Liverpool make a late move, expect Pranjic to follow the likes of Asanovic, Suker, Stimac, Bilic, Eduardo Silva, Kranjcar and Modric to England this summer.
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