In an extremely dubious 'exclusive' yesterday, the Daily Mirror claimed that Liverpool are interested in signing Tottenham's Tom Huddlestone. There are dozens of sites making up stupid transfer rumours on a daily basis but this must be one of the most ridiculous.
The Mirror claimed:
"Liverpool are ready to swoop for Spurs midfielder Tom Huddlestone.

Is the only criteria that matters that the club now appears to have owners who aren't interested in bleeding it dry? How much of a damper does the last minute sucker punch of Meireles to Chelsea alter things? And are you too deliriously happy that Philipp Degen is finally gone to think straight?

Certainly the club went hard for their targets early on—Henderson, Adam, and Downing—but opinion on the particular costs and merits of each of the trio remains somewhat less than universal.

Reds release Degen

Liverpool have released Swiss defender Philipp Degen from his contract by mutual consent.

View the full story here: Sky Sports

A news article on 2011-09-01 12:57:32 from: Sky Sports

This news item has been reproduced from today's media.

Liverpool might not have managed to sell Philipp Degen, however he's left the Reds.
The Swiss defender has seen his contract terminated by mutual consent, as a statement on Liverpoolfc.tv explained:
'Liverpool Football Club have tonight confirmed they have cancelled the registration of Philipp Degen by mutual consent.

Latest rumours surrounding Serbian International, Milan Jovanovic appear to suggest that the player has almost agreed personal terms with Belgian club Anderlecht.
His agent has claimed that a deal has almost been done between the two clubs and that all that remains now is for the forward to agree his weekly wages with the club.

So much for the romantic return to Istanbul. A questionable starting eleven and even worse first-half performance, woeful defending, and non-existant attack conspired to make for one of the most insufferable forty-five minutes of Liverpool football I've witnessed. The curious selection and impotent display were worrying, and while it got better as the personnel and formation righted themselves a bit in the second half, we're still left with another ineffective display and more time to wait for something that actually means something.

Doni
Flanagan Kelly Kyrgiakos Robinson
Poulsen Shelvey
Degen Cole Insua
Carroll
Subs:
• 46' – Kuyt for Degen
• 46' – Aquilani for Robinson
• 46' – Jones for Doni
• 68' – Spearing for Shelvey
• 70' – Ayala for Kelly
• 82' – Coady for Poulsen
• 82' – Wisdom for Carroll
Goals:
Baros 8' 39'
Elmander 85'
Almost exactly like Hull, except the third conceded came much later and was far sloppier, and without the wholesale halftime changes.

Over the last week Liverpool FC revealed that new signings Jordan Henderson and Charlie Adam would be wearing the No.14 and No.26 shirts respectively for 2011/12 campaign. They have added to that update by confirming that Stewart Downing will wear the No.19 shirt formerly held by Ryan Babel.

Kenny Dalglish is rightly bullish about his chances of attracting top class talent to Anfield this summer.
Liverpool's pulling power is unlikely to be dented by their absence from the Europa League next season.
In truth the biggest challenge facing Dalglish and director of football Damien Comolli over the coming months isn't strengthening the squad, it's getting rid of a huge amount of dead wood.

Liverpool are preparing a clear-out as the Anfield side looks to generate funds for significant signings this summer. Kenny Daglish and director of football Damien Comolli have reportedly been considering which players in the club's squad they are willing to offload and perhaps unsurprisingly a number of those are players brought in by Roy Hodgson.

In the previous post on Babel and the worst transfers of the last decade, I should have better differentiated between a "bad player" and a "bad signing." Buying Alberto Aquilani was an awful, awful deal, but Alberto Aquilani's an outstanding player. Philipp Degen is a terrible full-back but was a free signing that didn't cost Liverpool much more than wages and overtime for the medical staff.