Has Liverpool's Transfer Policy Gone Askew?
Article by Red Phil
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Let’s look at one or two interesting recent transfers and then try to look at why Liverpool’s transfer policy may be slightly askew. Chelsea recently bought Fabregas and Costa, both top-notch internationals in the prime of their careers. Arsenal got Sanchez, City got Bony and United got several experienced players who played well in the World Cup.
LFC, on the other hand, have been supposedly after any number of up-and-coming young players – admittedly with potential – but the vast, vast majority of them don’t shave yet, have pimples and have baby-sitters looking after them if mummy and daddy are away negotiating future, mega-bucks contracts for their little money-spinning darling for when they leave full-time education and head off into the world of being a footballing mercenary.
It is okay looking for potential when buying players, as shown by Sterling, Coutinho, Markovic, Can and Moreno but wouldn’t our season be a little better if we’d had a few players legally able to watch adult-rated films and who could use their experience to help the youngsters through this tricky period? It is a worrying aspect of our club when we currently rely so heavily on Sterling and Coutinho for inspiration. I can’t see Chelsea or City doing that, can you?
In the various LFC websites the list of young teenagers we are supposedly after is like a who’s-who of unknown – to me - players from around the world who may or may not make the grade. We seem to be obsessed now with youth, youth and more youth in the hope – coming from our owners, no doubt - that some of them might grow into and from puberty into very marketable footballers with high sell-on prices. Great for the owners, not so good for the club, if our team for the next few years is like a kindergarten with young kids swatted out of the way by the bigger, and more powerful players playing their trade in places such as Stoke and West Ham.
Remember the glory days of Hansen and Lawrenson, with Souness in midfield and Rushie and King Kenny up front? A tough spine through the team with still a few slots for the youngsters to learn amongst greatness! Magic! That team would have tonked Chelsea a few days ago!
The balance is wrong, we need a balance of young and experienced players. If, and it is a big IF, kids make the grade – thereby bringing money into the club if then sold – we need experienced players to help them get there and that can’t happen if there are too many kids wondering what beer tastes like. Getting a couple of mid-twenties players, perhaps a striker and midfielder, might just give us the tough spine I think we are currently lacking.
Are we turning into a club who only get players with a sell-on price in mind?
United proved that you can win things with kids but how many times has that happened? Once . . . and look at the kids they had . . . Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Gary Neville, etc., with Roy Keane there to provide the protection the midfield needed.
One excellent rumour puts us in the frame for that German ‘keeper currently at Barca! His name is ter Stegan, or something like that! He is a brilliant young keeper who was the best prospect in a very strong German league a couple of years ago so let’s hope that rumour is based upon fact!
I’m also a bit perturbed by a website suggesting that Emre Can might not be a good enough defender! He’s first and foremost a midfielder playing out of position and has only played eight or nine game, I think, even though those figures might be slightly wrong. He’s settling in nicely into a position that he may come to be very good at but we must remember that he’s new to this league and this position so let’s not judge him in the defence role until he’s had another fifteen or more games there and knows, more or less, what he’s doing.
Compared to Sakho and Toure he’s already a defensive genius but I’d still like to see him operating regularly in midfield BEFORE we decide which is his best position! Right, now on to West Ham and Bolton . . .
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
Subscribe to the e-Football Podcast For FREE!
Let’s look at one or two interesting recent transfers and then try to look at why Liverpool’s transfer policy may be slightly askew. Chelsea recently bought Fabregas and Costa, both top-notch internationals in the prime of their careers. Arsenal got Sanchez, City got Bony and United got several experienced players who played well in the World Cup.
LFC, on the other hand, have been supposedly after any number of up-and-coming young players – admittedly with potential – but the vast, vast majority of them don’t shave yet, have pimples and have baby-sitters looking after them if mummy and daddy are away negotiating future, mega-bucks contracts for their little money-spinning darling for when they leave full-time education and head off into the world of being a footballing mercenary.
It is okay looking for potential when buying players, as shown by Sterling, Coutinho, Markovic, Can and Moreno but wouldn’t our season be a little better if we’d had a few players legally able to watch adult-rated films and who could use their experience to help the youngsters through this tricky period? It is a worrying aspect of our club when we currently rely so heavily on Sterling and Coutinho for inspiration. I can’t see Chelsea or City doing that, can you?
In the various LFC websites the list of young teenagers we are supposedly after is like a who’s-who of unknown – to me - players from around the world who may or may not make the grade. We seem to be obsessed now with youth, youth and more youth in the hope – coming from our owners, no doubt - that some of them might grow into and from puberty into very marketable footballers with high sell-on prices. Great for the owners, not so good for the club, if our team for the next few years is like a kindergarten with young kids swatted out of the way by the bigger, and more powerful players playing their trade in places such as Stoke and West Ham.
Remember the glory days of Hansen and Lawrenson, with Souness in midfield and Rushie and King Kenny up front? A tough spine through the team with still a few slots for the youngsters to learn amongst greatness! Magic! That team would have tonked Chelsea a few days ago!
The balance is wrong, we need a balance of young and experienced players. If, and it is a big IF, kids make the grade – thereby bringing money into the club if then sold – we need experienced players to help them get there and that can’t happen if there are too many kids wondering what beer tastes like. Getting a couple of mid-twenties players, perhaps a striker and midfielder, might just give us the tough spine I think we are currently lacking.
Are we turning into a club who only get players with a sell-on price in mind?
United proved that you can win things with kids but how many times has that happened? Once . . . and look at the kids they had . . . Beckham, Scholes, Giggs, Gary Neville, etc., with Roy Keane there to provide the protection the midfield needed.
One excellent rumour puts us in the frame for that German ‘keeper currently at Barca! His name is ter Stegan, or something like that! He is a brilliant young keeper who was the best prospect in a very strong German league a couple of years ago so let’s hope that rumour is based upon fact!
I’m also a bit perturbed by a website suggesting that Emre Can might not be a good enough defender! He’s first and foremost a midfielder playing out of position and has only played eight or nine game, I think, even though those figures might be slightly wrong. He’s settling in nicely into a position that he may come to be very good at but we must remember that he’s new to this league and this position so let’s not judge him in the defence role until he’s had another fifteen or more games there and knows, more or less, what he’s doing.
Compared to Sakho and Toure he’s already a defensive genius but I’d still like to see him operating regularly in midfield BEFORE we decide which is his best position! Right, now on to West Ham and Bolton . . .
© e-Football 2014 All rights reserved no part of this document or this website may be reproduced without consent of e-Football
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