Latest Transfer Update at 12-04-2012

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Nicolas Anelka: Now part of Shanghai coaching staff

ANELKA TO HELP TIGANA

Nicolas Anelka has been added to the Shanghai Shenhua coaching staff to help struggling manager Jean Tigana.
Shenhua have won just one of their opening five games in the Chinese Super League, leading to speculation Tigana may be sacked.

Instead, the club have reshuffled their backroom staff, and added former Real Madrid and Chelsea striker Anelka.
A club statement read: "Due to the team's recent record which has not met the expectations and demands of the club's fans, media and other parties and the fact the foreign players are in urgent need of high-quality training the club has made the decision to replace some members of the coaching staff.
"The club will introduce four coaches from the United Kingdom and France to join the coaching staff to provide the necessary training support to ensure the competitive state of the players.


"In addition, the team captain Nicolas Anelka will coach and participate in the team's daily training management."
Anelka, 33, joined Shenhua in January after four years at Chelsea.

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Kenny Dalglish: Support from Tom Werner

WERNER: KENNY DALGLISH IS SAFE

Liverpool chairman Tom Werner insists manager Kenny Dalglish enjoys the "full support" of owners Fenway Sports Group.
The position of the Reds boss has come under scrutiny in recent weeks after a woeful run in the league in which they lost five of six matches, ending their hopes of qualifying for the Champions League.
Director of football Damien Comolli left the club on Thursday but Werner said Dalglish's position was safe.
"We've got great confidence in Kenny," he told liverpoolfc.tv.
"We feel the team is going to make strides in the future and he enjoys our full support."
Werner also gave his backing to managing director Ian Ayre. The club have been criticised this season for an apparent lack of leadership after their poor handling of the Luis Suarez-Patrice Evra race row.


After the departure of Comolli - along with head of sports medicine and sports science Peter Brukner, who also left the club today - Werner was asked whether he envisaged any other changes at senior management level.
"We do not. We believe the senior management is very strong, Ian Ayre is an outstanding managing director," said the American.
"His charge is to raise revenue so that we can put the resources into strengthening our football club.
"We've got great confidence in the other people in football operations, and so the answer is there will be no future changes of significance."
Comolli's departure is significant in that FSG took the positive decision to make a change after seemingly losing faith in the Frenchman's ability to deliver their vision.


The Americans were keen to implement the moneyball theory to transfers which had been so successful at their other high-profile acquisition, the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise.
That essentially meant finding players who were potentially under-achieving or slipping under the radar at other clubs, but who could be signed relatively cheaply, made into a success and therefore have a much higher re-sale value.
However, in the three transfer windows Dalglish has overseen, the owners have forked out the best part of £125million, with a net spend of about £70million - which seemed totally at odds with moneyball principles.
The likes of Andy Carroll (£35m), Stewart Downing (£20m) and Jordan Henderson (£16m) have failed to live up to expectation and the best deals have been for Craig Bellamy, who came in on a free but has no re-sale value because of his age, Jose Enrique (£6m) and Luis Suarez (£22.8m).
"We've had a strategy that we have agreed on. There was some disconnect on the implementation of that," said Werner, who confirmed they had made the decision to remove Comolli.


"That strategy is a strong one and it will continue.
"We need to build a strong system under the first team. We're hard at work identifying transfer targets and we will be better next year.
"Frankly, we make these decisions with a great deal of care because it's our track record in Boston to give people authority and we've had great success with our manager, who was there for eight years, and our general manager, so we prefer stability.
"But when it's time to act, we need to act. We're coming close to the end of the season and the transfer window for the summer, and we felt it was important to make this change expeditiously.
"We feel there is enough talent on the pitch to win and I would say we certainly have the resources to compete with anybody in football.
"But we're also talking about the future - we have a strategy we need implemented and we felt Damien was probably not the right person to implement that strategy."


That does not mean, however, that the role of director of football has been abandoned entirely.
"We're still confident the structure we've discussed is the right structure," added Werner.
"That doesn't mean we won't look at tweaking it, but we feel a collective group of people making football decisions is healthy.
"The debate is healthy. Part of the reason we made this decision now is because we want to start the process of finding an excellent replacement."
Principal owner John Henry's target at the start of the season was to make it back into the top four but their recent run of poor results scuppered those chances.


"We've been dissatisfied, as most supporters have been, with the results so far," said Werner, of Liverpool's eighth-placed league position.
"We feel we are a club that needs to be perceived as the strongest club in football and we want to get there."

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Damien Comolli: Leaves by 'mutual consent'

DAMIEN COMOLLI DEPARTS LIVERPOOL

Damien Comolli has left his role as Liverpool's director of football by mutual consent, the club confirmed on Thursday morning.
Manager Kenny Dalglish has also insisted he has been the man calling the shots over transfers after the surprise departure of Comolli.
Just two days before their FA Cup semi-final with Everton, the club announced the Frenchman had left by mutual consent, with Comolli saying he was returning home for family reasons.
Initially brought in by new owners American Fenway Sports Group in November 2010 to help ease their first move into football, Comolli's appointment preceded Dalglish's by nearly two months but, once the Scot replaced Roy Hodgson, there was no doubt who was in charge.
Even Comolli's promotion from director of football strategy to a wider role the following March failed to alter the balance of power that club icon Dalglish controlled.


And while Comolli has been criticised for his role in Liverpool's recent - and so far unsuccessful - transfer policy, the Reds boss stressed he had the final word on signings.
"Everyone who has come into the club since Damien has been here was of my choice," said Dalglish.
"Once I made the choice who I wanted, Damien went away and did a fantastic job of bringing them in.
"He has been really helpful in every transfer target we've gone for.
"I had a fantastic working and personal relationship with Damien and it is disappointing but I suppose there is not much in football which comes as a surprise.


"It is sad to see anyone leave the football club and he goes with my best wishes and hopefully it is not long before we meet again.
"We wish him well with everything that he does."
When FSG took over in October 2010 much was made of their intention to employ the moneyball theory, which had been so successful at their other high-profile acquisition of the Boston Red Sox baseball franchise, to transfers.
That essentially meant finding players who were potentially underachieving at other clubs but who could be signed relatively cheaply, made into a success and therefore have a much higher re-sale value.
However, in the three transfer windows Dalglish has overseen, the owners have forked out the best part of £125million, with a net spend of about £70million.


Those deals included an eye-watering £35million for Andy Carroll, £20million for Stewart Downing, £16million for Jordan Henderson.
Dalglish's best deals have been for Craig Bellamy, who came in on a free but has no re-sale value because of his age, and Jose Enrique (£6million from Newcastle), with only Luis Suarez, at £22.8million, coming close to justifying his price tag.
With the owners' pre-season ambitions of regaining a place in the top-four ended by a run of woeful league results it appears the director of football experiment has been ditched.
The responsibility now lies solely with Dalglish, who has come in for his fair share of criticism recently, and while that may not actually have changed much behind the scenes it is now more transparent and there can be no hiding behind anyone else.
Principal owner John Henry thanked Comolli for his contribution but business partner and Liverpool chairman Tom Werner was slightly more pragmatic in his assessment of the situation.


"The club needs to move forward and we now have a huge game on Saturday," he said in a statement.
"It is important that everyone joins us in supporting the manager and gets behind Kenny and the team and focuses on a strong finish to the season."
Comolli, who has also worked for Arsenal under Arsene Wenger and was widely credited with playing a part in Tottenham's recent resurgence, thanked the club for his opportunity.
"I am grateful to have been given the opportunity to work at Liverpool and am happy to move on from the club and back to France for family reasons," he said.
"I wish the club all the best for the future."

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Fabio Capello: Linked with Palermo job

PALERMO DENY CAPELLO APPROACH

Palermo president Maurizio Zamparini has denied that the Serie A club have made an approach to bring Fabio Capello to the Renzo Barbera.
Capello has a close friendship with general manager Christian Panucci and it had been reported in Italy that the former England boss had been close to penning a deal with the Sicilians.


And with the Rosaneri thought to be close to securing Arab investment, president Zamparini has dismissed the reports as nothing more than speculation.
"He has an understandable aim at his age - to get a contract in accordance with his fame and of course his value, which is something Palermo cannot have," the President told Mediagol.
"Maybe Capello can come here, but the salaries of coaches in Italy are much lower here to the salary he could be earning in China or Russia, where I believe he will go in the end.


"It is news that tickles the imagination and ignites the enthusiasm of the supporters, but I do not want to deceive them."
Capello, 65, has been out of work since February when he stepped down as England coach after publicly challenging the Football Association's decision to strip John Terry of the captaincy.