First Serious Signing

I have always admired Glen Johnson but never the teams he had played with. He has great skills and his ability to defend well and at the same time join in the attack to worry the opposing defence is surely an asset to LFC.

But most importantly, he is English and with the new ruling of the quota for home-grown players in a team competing in Europe looming in the horizon, Rafa's decision to sign Johnson can surely be considered as a smart move. With him in the team, Rafa would not have to sacrifice other key players to adhere to this ruling when it is in effect.

LFC is actually spending £10M for Johnson because of the £7M owed by Portsmouth for the acquiring of Crouch. But apparently his wages is high and this has made players like Mascherano unhappy. It is reported that Mascherano is paid only £30K per week whilst it only makes sense that he is paid as much as the other great players in LFC, at a figure close to £100K per week.

With the purchase of Johnson, it is inevitable that some of the current players in the squad will be sold off. Players like Dossenna, Voronin, Arbeloa (after that on-field spat with Carragher) et al are expected to leave. What is worrisome is that key players such as Alonso and Mascherano (even Messi has joined in the talks) are being courted by likes of Real Madrid and Barcelona. Just hope that these players that make up the spine of the team do not leave us because then all the building up work done in the past few seasons would have all gone to waste.

(pic taken from: http://www.insidefutbol.com)