Apparently Liverpool signed Yossi Benayoun today. I take a few hours off and I miss a signing! We all knew it was coming I guess, but still happened kind of suddenly. Although it does appear that he may not have passed his medical yet…
I for one am delighted with this deal. He’s moving from West Ham for an initial £3m, rising to £5m depending on certain clauses. While West Ham often used him as a winger I believe he is the replacement for Luis Garcia and that he is a step up in class.

Despite all the crucial Champion’s League goals Garcia scored in his time at Liverpool he never really adapted to life in the Premiership and was never able to break down stubborn defences. Benayoun is already suited to the Premiership and will be able to add that missing bit of creativity in the center of the park. I expect him to be used mostly as a substitute but that he will prove his worth.

Another great piece of business by Rafa! Now, who’s next…?

Fernando Torres has agreed a £26m transfer from Athletico Madrid to Liverpool. He will get around £90,000 a week in a 4 or 5 year deal. I’m hearing he has agreed personal terms and is in Liverpool as I type. So, you heard it here first! Torres has signed.

You can see my views on the Liverpool attack and the signing of Torres here. His statistics below show that he is what Liverpool are looking for. He’s a goals scorer, quick, good in the air and has a good touch. In signing Torres Benitez has solved the biggest problem Liverpool had last season. Putting the ball in the net when it counts! My only fear would be that too much would be expected of this young man in the season ahead. A new country, a new style of football and a very big transfer fee. Add to that the expectations that myself and Biff have been discussing and you get a very difficult situation indeed.

One Torres does not a title bring, but it’s a start!

Continuing my analysis of the Liverpool squad I today turn my attentions to the Midfield. The engine room, the heart beet, the creativity, the shield for the defence, and let’s not forget the wingers. It’s all in today’s look at the squad Benitez has assembled.

Center-Midfield

I thought I’d start with the center of midfield as it is the easiest to analyse. In Steven Gerrard, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Momo Sissoko, Liverpool have four central midfielders that would walk into just about any team in the World. They are truly top class. The trick for Benitez is to keep them all on his books and to keep them all happy.

Half of that job is almost complete now that Gerrard and Alonso have signed their contract extentions, but there seems to be a delay with Sissoko’s contract and Mascherano is only on loan for the next 12 months, although a fee has been agreed should Liverpool decide to buy him. Keeping them all happy will be a job that takes all of Benitez’s skills as a manager, but it might be as simple as those who perform play.

Despite the high quality of player in this position there was a lack of goals from them last season. Gerrad’s 11 was a healthy figure but nothing compared to the 20 plus he scored the previous season. Alonso is capable of many more goals than he has produced so far and the pressure must be put on him to score. Mascherano can scroe a few goals a season whil Sissoko seems to lack confidence in front of goal. Assists must also be increased but I believe that we have the right players in the squad for this position.

Of course Benitez didn’t feel he had enough headaches and added the highly rated Brazilian Lucas Leiva to his squad this summer. His reputation promises goals, asisits and tackling but being only 20 and coming straight from South America I think he should be given next season to adapt.

Right-Wing

Right-wing is one of the areas I want Liverpool to strengthen the most. Sure they need goals up front as a matter of some urgency but if you create better supply then the strikers you have will score more. Gerrard playing on the right-wing is not the answer. Considering the squad of players available for the last 3 years I agreed that he was most useful to the team out there, but you don’t get the best out of Gerrard when he is wide-right and there are better right-wingers out there. And yet there have been very few right-wingers linked to Liverpool so far this summer.

I wrote Jermaine Pennant off a long time ago, and if I’m honest I never really gave him a chance. He clearly wasn’t the number one target (Alves was the priority last summer) and he needed time to settle, despite playing in the same league as he did with his former club, Birmingham. His form improved near the end of the season and I was impressed with his displays in the latter rounds of the Champion’s League. Now that I want to keep him, I still feel that he is a squad player rather than first choice right-winger. Luis Garcia is not a right-winger for me, so in my eyes Liverpool have one right-winger on their books and he’s not first choice.

Roma’s Mancini is the only name that has been linked publicly so far. From the little I have seen of him he looks a skilful player who likes a few tricks, likes to take players on, can put crosses in and scores goals. Aaron Lennon would be my personal choice but I don’t think he’s within price range. There aren’t a glut of right-wingers out there of the standard Liverpol would need. Maybe Pennant will continue to surprise me and find some consistancy in his crossing and his performance. I would still like to see a second right-winger signed.

Left-Wing

The left-wing has been a problem area for Liverpool for some time. I am not, however, as worried about it as I am the right-wing. Bolo Zenden has left and Mark Gonzalez is near to completing his departure to Spain or Portugal. Even if no more left-wingers come in Harry Kewell - a player who has infuriated me to the point of hatred on many occasions - looked good near the end of the season and John Arne Riise provides an option for the left-wing that I really like.

Having said that I’d cash in on Kewell if anyone offered £3m or more and I’d sign another 2 left-wingers if the money was available. Florent Malouda is still an option. The reports are saying that either he isn’t first option or the money isn’t available to complete the transfer yet. I choose to believe the first theory as in previous seasons Benitez has lined up his second (or lower) choice option first before trying to push his first choice deal through. Just look at Pennant last season. So if not Malouda then who? David Silva of Valencia seems the favoured option. Simao Sambrosa’s name has come up again and since he can play left or right, he would be an excellent signing. Sambrosa and Silva with Kewell given one last year to prove himself and both wings are sorted. Seems to easy doesn’t it? One thing’s for sure, Benitez wouldn’t have let Gonzalez go so early if he wasn’t confident of bringing in a new left-winger. Just why Benitez has put more priority on the left than the right I do not know but I’m sure it will all become clear soon.

In terms of exits I have no problem with Zenden going, I wouldn’t have a problem with Garcia or Kewell leaving either, but I would have liked Gonzalez to be given another year. I feel he has more to offer. Maybe his attitude wasn’t up to scratch but I never heard any rumours of trouble with him. Sending him on loan for a season to build up him confidence and bringing him back into a more attack minded team might be the answer. If Bentiez chooses to sell him I’ll trust he knows something I don’t. Once he brings in good wingers I won’t care!

A few weeks ago I heard on the radio about a reality TV show in Holland called The Big Donor Show, featuring “a a terminally-ill woman who selects one of three patients to receive her kidneys when she dies.”

I was shocked by it all, but it turns out I needn’t have been as it was all a hoax. I’m not sure that makes it any better really. No matter what they say about highlighting problems, at the end of the day they used a very serious illness to create publicity and profit for themselves. That’s just wrong!

The Galway Film Fleadh have announced their Masterclasses and are taking applications until 5pm on the 29th of June. Among them is an Actor’s Masterclass with Jeremy Irons and a Screenwriters Masterclass with Terry George, writer of In The Name of the Father and Hotel Rwanda, amongst others.

The programme of films will be announced soon.