Liverpool Bid Just £12.7 million for Suarez as Babel leaves

Not only has Blackpool's Ian Holloway voiced his displeasure of a lowly transfer fee offered for Charlie Adam received from Liverpool, but now Ajax have asked for a more "respectful" bid to be made for their star striker, Luis Suarez.

Ian Holloway was recently angered by a £4 million bid for his captain Charlie Adam, and subsequently went on a little rant in his usual passionate fashion at a press conference in which the Blackpool manager also confirmed that Adam had submitted a formal transfer request.

Now, Luis Suarez, who has been subject of much speculation as to where his future lies, has been bid for by Liverpool in what Ajax believe is another unsubstantial offer.
An Ajax spokesperson said:

We'll have to wait for them to come back with something more respectful. We want to keep him - at least until the end of the season and preferably for the rest of his contract."

"If you compare the 15 million euros [£12.7 million] Liverpool want to pay for Suarez with other transfers you can imagine that it's far too low for us. Luis is our top goalscorer for the last three years and also the man with by far the most assists as well.

"He was one of the big guys for Uruguay in helping them come third in the World Cup in the summer and he still has a contract with us for two-and-a-half years."

These comments are completely understandable. Luis Suarez is obviously an integral part of the Ajax side, someone who scores a lot of goals and wins a lot of matches for both his club and country. The fact is, £12.7 million really isn't enough to persuade a side to let their star striker go anymore, especially one of Suarez's calibre.

Darren Bent was only recently bought by Aston Villa for around £24 million - a figure which I believe is quite overpriced, and I question the ability of certain Aston Villa negotiators in coming to such a price. However, this is the climate of the market at the moment, and even small teams like Blackpool are able to ask for decent money and get away with it.
The fact is, if Liverpool want to sign a top quality striker, they have to pay the full price, especially now that they have left it so late in the window. Ajax need time to buy a replacement, and need the money to do that, so Liverpool must get a move on to pick up Fernando Torres' partner who can drive both Torres and Liverpool to success in the Premier League table.

In other news, Ryan Babel has accepted personal terms and agreed to move to German club 1899 Hoffenheim (as I reported on on January 18th). A brief statement on the Premier League club's official website read:

"Ryan Babel has agreed a move to TSG 1899 Hoffenheim. The Dutch international will fly to Germany tomorrow to finalise the deal.

Bye Bye Babel - Liverpool Accept Bid

Ryan Babel looks like he will be leaving Liverpool, as the Liverpool offcial website said that the Merseyside club have accepted a bid from German side 1899 Hoffenheim for the Dutch winger, and that Babel has travelled to Germany to discuss personal terms:

"Liverpool FC this afternoon announced they had accepted a bid from TSG 1899 Hoffenheim for the transfer of Dutch international Ryan Babel."

"The Bundesliga Club have now been given permission to discuss personal terms with the player, who has travelled to Germany."

The Hoffenheim owner, Dietmar Hopp said:

"Following the departure of (Demba) Ba and the injury to (Chinedu) Obasi, we were in an emergency situation. Babel was one of the prime candidates who our general manager Ernst Tanner was most convinced about."

The player, who was bought for a fee in excess of £10 million in 2007, will reportedly cost Hoffenheim 7 million euros, which is around £5.8 million - a financial loss of roughly £4.2 million. The Dutchman dissappointed at Anfield, scoring 22 goals in 146 appearances and not fulfilling the massive potential that it was thought the 24 year-old had.
Babel had spoken to some media sources which quote him as saying he would be willing to be involved in a swap deal that could bring Liverpool target Luis Suarez from Ajax to Anfield:

"The transfer of Suarez to Liverpool opens the door for me to go to Ajax. If Liverpool and Ajax - whether in combination with Luis - can reach an agreement over me I will surely come to the club.

"For the chance to play I am willing to settle for far less pay. For a player of my age it is important to be playing week in week out."

Playing "week in week out" was something that Babel was unable to do in his time at Liverpool, as he struggled with inconsistencies and was unable to create an opening in the Liverpool team for a regular first team spot.