Joe Allen is Anfield boundThe News Desk was just getting ready to click off the desk light for a deserved nights rest when reports that Liverpool have increased their bid for Swansea midfielder Joe Allen came trickling through the wire. An initial bid of £12.5mil plus Jonjo Shelvey on a season long loan was rejected by the South Wales club, but Brendan Rodgers has been determined to see this through and has now triggered the £15mil release clause built into Allen’s contract. Swansea chairman Huw Jenkins and boss Michael Laudrup have both held talks with the want-away Welshman in an attempt to convince him to stay on at the Liberty Stadium though those efforts now appear to be in vain. Laudrup has been publicly scornful of the Reds pursuit of a player he sees as a key figure at Swansea and called our initial bid too low to be considered. Brendan Rodgers had a gentlemans agreement with his former club that he would not go back for any of his former players for 12 months, but every concession has an exception and if a bid is considered to be in the best interest of the club, it can be pushed through. With the buy-out clause reached, it’s now only a matter of time before Allen becomes Rodgers second signing as Liverpool boss following the capture of Italian striker Fabio Borini last month.
