As Euro 2008 suddenly sprung to life last night, largely thanks to a great game by Dirk Kuyt as Holland cruised to victory over Italy, Liverpool fans were left worrying at the state of the club’s accounts revealed yesterday morning.
Figures showed losses for the club’s parent company, Kop Holdings Ltd, of £33m for the year ending July 31st as well as unpaid travel and legal expenses by the club’s American owners.
But this morning’s The Guardian, Andy Hunter suggests that these grim figures will not effect the transfer budget manager Rafael Benitez has been given this summer.
Despite these ominous figures, the £350m refinancing deal accounted for this summer’s transfer dealings and BenÃtez’s budget is in place, although it is understood to be far from what the manager would like. The Spaniard will have to raise much of his revenue through sales and Liverpool have opened negotiations with Roma regarding the possible sale of John Arne Riise.
Sam Wallace of The Independent paints the picture of Holland’s second goal in their 3-0 victory over Italy last night, which has already been touted as one of the best Dutch goals of all time and was largely thanks to great work by Kuyt.
From there Van der Vaart carried the ball upfield, the obvious pass was to the breaking Sneijder but instead he picked out Van Bronckhorst on the left. The full-back charged forward and crossed to Dirk Kuyt whose header down was driven in by Sneijder. The move lasted seconds and Italy never recovered.
Similarly, The Telegraph’s Henry Winter describes the moment:
Italy, masters at defending, were ripped apart. Van Bronckhorst’s pass added to Italian anguish, the ball lifted towards the far post where Dirk Kuyt’s cushioned header fell perfectly to Sneijder. His reaction was little short of sensational, the man from Madrid jumping up and volleying athletically past Buffon.
And finally, the Daily Mail reports that Steve Bruce could be set to sign former Reds striker Djibril Ciise.
Manager Steve Bruce has been struggling to land Egyptian Amr Zaki and Marseille’s former Liverpool striker Cisse is anxious to return to England but would prefer a club who are challenging for Europe.
Today sees Fernando Torres representing Spain against Russia. Xabi Alonso, Alvaro Arbeloa and Pepe Reina are all also in the Spanish squad. Kick-off is at 5pm and the match is live on BBC One.
