ARSENE Wenger is ready to take advantage of the growing financial crisis at Liverpool by tempting the Anfield club with a bid for Spanish goalkeeper Pepe Reina.
The Gunners boss wants a new No1 to replace his error-prone keepers Manuel Almunia and Lukasz Fabianski, and identified Reina as his top target in the summer.
In August Liverpool refused Arsenal permission to talk to the 28-year-old, who had just signed a new contract to keep him at Anfield until 2016, and Wenger also failed with a late bid to sign Fulham’s Mark Schwarzer.
However, the deepening financial worries at Liverpool could see them forced to sell off star names in the January transfer window, and Wenger will make another effort to land Reina with a £15m bid.
Liverpool could go into administration if, as expected, they reach the October 6 deadline for their £237m debt repayment to the Royal Bank of Scotland without finding a new buyer for the club.
With their current owners, the American duo Tom Hicks and George Gillett, set to be refused any further financing by the bank, the club could be asked to repay a total outstanding debt of £280m or even fall under the control of the bank.
Despite signing his new deal, Reina is known to have been unhappy at Liverpool since the departure of the man who signed him, Rafael Benitez, and the summer arrival of Roy Hodgson. (Hackney Gazette)
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| Pepe Reina |
Pepe Reina is a solid and reliable goalie of the first order and Liverpool will fight tooth and nail to keep him but given the problems at Anfield a bid from Arsenal may well be a tempting one for the Spanish international custodian.
Having failed with a previous bid for the 28 year old it has been reported that Wenger will up his bid significantly to £19m such is the importance the manager now places on a top drawer goalkeeper. Will such a bid succeed?
Some may feel that the fee is inflated but the fee is no more than some sides spend on outfield players and a keeper is as important, if not more so, to a whole side’s performance and maybe the Emirates boss now realises this having had to cope with very average performers since Jens Lehmann left the club.
