It was almost as if Rafa Benitez had been there before. In the ECHO this week, the Liverpool manager felt compelled to explain the reasons for the £17million he shelled out to bring in a right-back.
”Sometimes you have to spend a little bit more,” admitted the Liverpool boss following his capture of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth, confirmed last night when the 24-year-old signed a four-year deal.
“You can’t compete in the top four of the Premier League unless you spend some money.”
Spoken with the calm assurance and matter-of-fact reasoning of someone completely at ease with smashing the club record fee for a defender.
As the Spaniard should be by now, of course. He currently has four players on his books who, at the time of purchase, were the costliest defenders in Anfield history.
The one thing that sets Johnson apart from Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Andrea Dossena, however, is the amount he beat the previous record by.
With the best part of £10million being added on to the former highest price, that was paid to Udinese for Italian left-back Dossena last summer, the pressure on both Johnson and Benitez has been raised a fair few notches.
And yet that situation is nothing new in L4 history.
It was 15 years ago that Roy Evans not only broke the club transfer record – as well as the bank – on defenders twice in the space of two days, he almost beat the British mark too.
John Scales came from Wimbledon for £3.5million followed swiftly by Phil Babb from Coventry for £100,000 more.
It was only weeks earlier that the British record was set at £4million by Chris Sutton’s move from Blackburn to Norwich CIty, while Babb’s fee was the same amount his Irish team-mate Roy Keane had gone for a year earlier when moving form Nottingham Forest to Manchester United.
And Evans had deemed both his new centre-backs to be more expensive than Alan Shearer, whose market value at that time might have been rising rapidly, but only cost £3.3m when he left Southampton for Blackburn in 1992.
Evans’s gamble didn’t pay off and one League Cup was all he had to show for his four years in charge, in which he failed to re-establish Liverpool’s domestic dominance.
But there are examples which should give Johnson considerably more heart.
Not least Mark Lawrenson. In the days when £1million fees were still big news, eyebrows were raised when £900,000 was forked out to Brighton for the centre-back in 1981.
However, he made a seamless transition into the Liverpool success story – because the pressure of being the club’s record signing never registered with him.
“What Glen Johnson needs to do is be himself, not think of himself as the £17million man,” said Johnson.
“Nobody goes on about Fernando Torres’s transfer fee now do they? He’s just Torres, world class striker, not Torres record signing.
“It’s a lot of money for a defender but the thing is, he’s not just a defender. When I signed, Bob Paisley told everyone I could play in a few different positions and that made it look like a wiser investment.
“That took the pressure off me straight away and I think Benitez could do the same with Johnson.
“He’s not just a right-back, he can attack and go forward as well. In fact, a full-back in the modern game is one of the most versatile and valuable roles anyway.
“They have as much of the ball as anyone else these days and being on the ball is where Johnson is at his most comfortable so he should be okay. So I don’t think the £17m Liverpool have spent should be seen as particularly extravagant.”
Lawrenson also believes the nature of the market could help to explain why Johnson has lined the Pompey pockets so heavily.
This is the summer of £80million world record transfer fees, just as the buys of Scales and Babb came hot on the heels of the cash-happy Premier League revolution.
Back in 1979, the British transfer record doubled from £500,000 to £1million in the space of a month when Trevor Francis joined Nottingham Forest – and that inflated climate also helped to make Lawrenson’s price tag more justifiable. There were a few million pound playrs about when I joined Liverpool,” he added. “Trevor Francis was the first but there was Steve Daly and Andy Gray just after that so by that time anything under £1m wasn’t big news.
In fact, the media I did at the time, I wasn’t really asked about the transfer fee.
“I can’t see that happening to Johnson, the way things are hyped these days, I’m sure a big thing will be made of the price tag when he gets round to doing interviews.
“But it’s not his fault, it’s just circumstances. This is a lad who is England’s first choice right-back and players like that – well, you just can’t pinch them anymore.”
Glen Johnson came through the ranks at West Ham’s academy.
After a loan spell at London neighbours Millwall, the promising full-back broke into the Hammers first team.
Johnson made just 16 appearances before moving to Chelsea in 2003 for £6m, becoming the first major signing of the Roman Abramovich era.
In November 2003, he made his international debut against Denmark.
The Londoner enjoyed a good first season at Stamford Bridge but fell out of favour when Jose Mourinho took charge, losing his place to Paulo Ferreira.
In 2006, Harry Redknapp, who had worked with Johnson since he was 15, took him on an initial year’s loan at Portsmouth before securing a permanaent £4m deal.
Johnson recaptured his form that he showed in his early days at West Ham and was a key member of Pompey’s FA Cup winning side. However, his medal was stolen from his wash bag in the team’s hotel.
Johnson’s performances did not go unnoticed and he was rewarded with a recall to the England squad in January last year.
The 24-year-old has 13 caps under his belt and has been an ever present in Capello’s squads.
Johnson runs a soccer school in his hometown of Dartford, Kent, to help keep children out of trouble.
Although not renowned for his goalscoring ability Johnson came runner-up in Match of the Day’s goal of the season award, behind Fernando Torres.
”Sometimes you have to spend a little bit more,” admitted the Liverpool boss following his capture of Glen Johnson from Portsmouth, confirmed last night when the 24-year-old signed a four-year deal.
“You can’t compete in the top four of the Premier League unless you spend some money.”
Spoken with the calm assurance and matter-of-fact reasoning of someone completely at ease with smashing the club record fee for a defender.
As the Spaniard should be by now, of course. He currently has four players on his books who, at the time of purchase, were the costliest defenders in Anfield history.
The one thing that sets Johnson apart from Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Andrea Dossena, however, is the amount he beat the previous record by.
With the best part of £10million being added on to the former highest price, that was paid to Udinese for Italian left-back Dossena last summer, the pressure on both Johnson and Benitez has been raised a fair few notches.
And yet that situation is nothing new in L4 history.
It was 15 years ago that Roy Evans not only broke the club transfer record – as well as the bank – on defenders twice in the space of two days, he almost beat the British mark too.
John Scales came from Wimbledon for £3.5million followed swiftly by Phil Babb from Coventry for £100,000 more.
It was only weeks earlier that the British record was set at £4million by Chris Sutton’s move from Blackburn to Norwich CIty, while Babb’s fee was the same amount his Irish team-mate Roy Keane had gone for a year earlier when moving form Nottingham Forest to Manchester United.
And Evans had deemed both his new centre-backs to be more expensive than Alan Shearer, whose market value at that time might have been rising rapidly, but only cost £3.3m when he left Southampton for Blackburn in 1992.
Evans’s gamble didn’t pay off and one League Cup was all he had to show for his four years in charge, in which he failed to re-establish Liverpool’s domestic dominance.
But there are examples which should give Johnson considerably more heart.
Not least Mark Lawrenson. In the days when £1million fees were still big news, eyebrows were raised when £900,000 was forked out to Brighton for the centre-back in 1981.
However, he made a seamless transition into the Liverpool success story – because the pressure of being the club’s record signing never registered with him.
“What Glen Johnson needs to do is be himself, not think of himself as the £17million man,” said Johnson.
“Nobody goes on about Fernando Torres’s transfer fee now do they? He’s just Torres, world class striker, not Torres record signing.
“It’s a lot of money for a defender but the thing is, he’s not just a defender. When I signed, Bob Paisley told everyone I could play in a few different positions and that made it look like a wiser investment.
“That took the pressure off me straight away and I think Benitez could do the same with Johnson.
“He’s not just a right-back, he can attack and go forward as well. In fact, a full-back in the modern game is one of the most versatile and valuable roles anyway.
“They have as much of the ball as anyone else these days and being on the ball is where Johnson is at his most comfortable so he should be okay. So I don’t think the £17m Liverpool have spent should be seen as particularly extravagant.”
Lawrenson also believes the nature of the market could help to explain why Johnson has lined the Pompey pockets so heavily.
This is the summer of £80million world record transfer fees, just as the buys of Scales and Babb came hot on the heels of the cash-happy Premier League revolution.
Back in 1979, the British transfer record doubled from £500,000 to £1million in the space of a month when Trevor Francis joined Nottingham Forest – and that inflated climate also helped to make Lawrenson’s price tag more justifiable. There were a few million pound playrs about when I joined Liverpool,” he added. “Trevor Francis was the first but there was Steve Daly and Andy Gray just after that so by that time anything under £1m wasn’t big news.
In fact, the media I did at the time, I wasn’t really asked about the transfer fee.
“I can’t see that happening to Johnson, the way things are hyped these days, I’m sure a big thing will be made of the price tag when he gets round to doing interviews.
“But it’s not his fault, it’s just circumstances. This is a lad who is England’s first choice right-back and players like that – well, you just can’t pinch them anymore.”
Glen Johnson came through the ranks at West Ham’s academy.
After a loan spell at London neighbours Millwall, the promising full-back broke into the Hammers first team.
Johnson made just 16 appearances before moving to Chelsea in 2003 for £6m, becoming the first major signing of the Roman Abramovich era.
In November 2003, he made his international debut against Denmark.
The Londoner enjoyed a good first season at Stamford Bridge but fell out of favour when Jose Mourinho took charge, losing his place to Paulo Ferreira.
In 2006, Harry Redknapp, who had worked with Johnson since he was 15, took him on an initial year’s loan at Portsmouth before securing a permanaent £4m deal.
Johnson recaptured his form that he showed in his early days at West Ham and was a key member of Pompey’s FA Cup winning side. However, his medal was stolen from his wash bag in the team’s hotel.
Johnson’s performances did not go unnoticed and he was rewarded with a recall to the England squad in January last year.
The 24-year-old has 13 caps under his belt and has been an ever present in Capello’s squads.
Johnson runs a soccer school in his hometown of Dartford, Kent, to help keep children out of trouble.
Although not renowned for his goalscoring ability Johnson came runner-up in Match of the Day’s goal of the season award, behind Fernando Torres.
