Liverpool boss eyes Giroud and De Jong

Kenny Dalglish seems intent on arming Liverpool to the teeth next season by dipping into his transfer war chest in the summer.

The Reds boss has been flying to France and Holland to personally scout for potential strikers over the weekend.

Liverpool have join the list of clubs showing interest in Montpellier striker Olivier Giroud, according to the Daily Mail.
 
Dalglish and assistant Steve Clarke watched Montpellier's 1-0 victory at Toulouse on Friday night and were joined in the stands by Arsenal scout Gilles Grimandi and Bayern Munich's general manager Christian Nerlinger, it said.

Click to read England turn to Hodgson
 
Giroud was the focus of Dalglish's attention but the striker struggled to impress and missed a penalty.

Dalglish has reportedly identified a striker, right-sided midfielder and defender as his priorities for this summer.

Giroud is rated at £50 million but is understood to have a release clause considerably lower at £13.5m.
 
The only stumbling block though could be his desire to play in the Champions League.

Montpellier should qualify while Liverpool will be in the Europa League.

Click to read Liverpool warm up for FA Cup finale

After Liverpool rode on a hat-trick by Luis Suarez to thump Norwich City, Dalglish flew to Holland on Sunday where he is planning a £20 million double swoop by trying to bring Luuk de Jong and Rasmus Elm to Anfield.

The Reds have been told they will have to pay at least £12.5m if they are serious about signing Holland and FC Twente striker De Jong, according to the Daily Mail.

The 21-year-old has caught the eye of scouts from a number of major clubs by scoring 23 times in 29 league matches this term.

With Dalglish keen to have a prolific goalscorer to play alongside Suarez, De Jong fits the bill perfectly and his budget.

Suarez treble lifts Liverpool

Luis Suarez warmed up for next week's FA Cup final with a hat-trick in Liverpool's 3-0 win at Norwich City in the Premier League on Saturday while high-flying Newcastle United were thumped 4-0 at lowly Wigan Athletic.

Third-placed Arsenal, who have taken two points out of a possible nine, drew 1-1 at Stoke City where newly-elected Footballer of the Year Robin van Persie's 28th league goal of the season cancelled out Peter Crouch's opener for the home side.

A glut of goals came on a cold, rainy day when the top two - Manchester United and Manchester City - were not in action because they meet in a title decider on Monday while Champions League and FA Cup finalists Chelsea do not play until Sunday.

Click to read Terry and Chelsea on a roll

Saturday's seven matches produced 25 goals and the biggest shock came at the DW Stadium where Wigan dented Newcastle's dreams of a Champions League place next season and boosted their own survival hopes with an emphatic victory.

The outstanding individual performance of the day belonged to Uruguay striker Suarez who scored a contender for goal of the season eight minutes from time when he lobbed Norwich goalkeeper John Ruddy from 45 metres.

"He (Suarez) is one of the best in the world on his day. Today was his day and as a team we could have had two or three goals more," Liverpool skipper Steven Gerrard told ESPN television.

Liverpool farce has Reds stuck with Kuyt

The farce at Liverpool continues with Kenny Dalglish’s throne increasingly coming under attack – even from within the faithful at Anfield.

After dropping a jaw-dropping 27 points at home this season, Kenny in comments to British press, has blamed the anomaly on bad luck.

After news yesterday that Liverpool might face the rough prospect of losing their best player of the season Luis Suarez, but keeping flop of the season Andy Carroll, more transfer rumours to emerge at the Kop are not exactly inspiring.

The latest, according to the Daily Mail, Dirk Kuyt and Maxi Rodriguez could stay at Anfield next season after Liverpool has supposedly changed the stance they had taken on their futures.

Click to read Messi inspires Barca

When one considers Kuyt’s scoring record, and his blinding miss in front of goal, it can hardly encourage Liverpool fans that Kuyt and Rodriguez who had been earmarked to move on, might be saved for Liverpool’s will Europa Cup run.

It’s now a bit passé to talk about price tags. Especially given that with each passing game Andy Carroll’s reduces to a level that Liverpool can’t even contemplate getting rid of him.

Maybe that is why manager Kenny Dalglish is not talking about letting his 35-million pound blunder go.