Liverpool players on the move!

Posted by

Notwithstanding the current positive trend which has seen the Reds win four PL games on the trot without conceding a goal, culminating in what many saw as a shock victory at Stamford Bridge, Kenny Dalglish has stated that the next summer transfer window may be the period for him (taking for granted he will be given the job permanently) to ring the changes and freshen up the squad with renewed talent and quality. Is it too early to run the rumour mill, but there is no doubt that Comolli and Co are already working on a master plan, backed by the low-profile approach of NESV which so far has been pleasantly positive.

No harm in making some considerations of what might be though is there? So let’s have a go at seeing who might not be wearing the Liverpool shirt next season. The Reds have currently nine first team squad players out on low, some being full internationals for their respective countries, others loaned out to acquire experience.

The most high profile player on loan is Aquilani (there apparently is a pre-established transfer deal on him which Juventus are already trying to chop some millions off), followed by Konchesky, Degen, Insua and El Zhar. These five will probably not feature in KK’s plans so they will move on, generating some extra spending money for what is said to be a substantial transfer kitty for the summer. Others like Darby, Eccleston, Amoo and Mavinga are out to gain experience as was then case with Ayala who has returned to Melwood following injury whilst out on loan.

On a personal level, I have, for now, put question marks on five other first squad players that may be leaving Anfield come next summer. These are Kyrgiakos, Poulsen, Jovanovic, Aurelio and Joe Cole. Now before we all get agitated with ‘what’s this nonsense’ kind of comments, allow me to put my reasoning into words.
Kyrgiakos, as far as I am aware, is out of contract next summer, if this is not the case; the majestic return of Agger into the squad has sent the hearty Greek down the pecking order. He is not a teenager anymore and will want first team football; moreover, the Reds have both Danny Wilson and Ayala waiting in the wings which is really not a shabby prospect.
The same applies to Christian Poulsen. The Dane has not hit the ground running both as far as his game is concerned as well as his likeability with the Anfield crowd. I personally am not surprised as he came from a terrible season with Juventus and was brought in as a direct yet failed replacement for Mascherano. Rumours claim he is destined to return to Danish football.
Jovanovic’s case is very similar to Ryan Babel’s. The quick Serbian has probably not been given enough game time to express himself and in all fairness, it’s not that the Reds were playing awe inspiring football, but I doubt the new Reds regime will be as patient as they were with the Dutch attacker. He came in on a free and will go for a sum.
Aurelio…hmmm…if he wants to stay I’d keep him. I feel he is happy with his current role at the Club and might, just might, hang on for another season, that’s unless someone comes in for him.
Finally Joe Cole! What to say? The lad came in on a free so it’s not like the Reds are facing another financial own goal here! No one, and I mean no one, has any doubt about the lad’s ability to play football, the fact remains that he came to Anfield primarily for first team football and with Kuyt and Maxi probably to make way for Suarez and Carroll in most games, he could find himself well down the pecking order and decide to move on. If that happens, as crude as it might sound, the Reds will have the right to cash in!
That’s it for now! With a possible 9/10 players on the way out next summer the question that beckons is: who will replace them? Now that is another story…………

18 Comments

  1. First thing we should do is scrap the deal with Juve and try our hardest to bring Aquaman back to Anfield. He would excel under KD.

    Soto is a good squad player. I think he had an option for a further 1 year in his contract. Still not sure. I’m still not convinced that Agger’s injury record is behind him so we really need a decent backup until Wilson or Ayala have been fully blooded in. That is unless we buy a young up and coming centrehalf in the summer. Sakho :D

    Konchesky, Degen, Insua and El Zhar as you say are never going to cut it here and should go. Insua is probably the best of a bad bunch. Sell or release them.

    Joe Cole is a good player but for me he’s injured too much and we spend nearly 400k a month on wages for him. Whats the point? I’d rather the time and effort was spent on the likes of Pacheco or Suso. Yes they may not be as good as Cole atm but the only way they will get better is by playing. If Joe is only playing a bitpart role as it is, Id rather that time was spent on the youth.

  2. @RRR! You find me in agreement with you on Aquilani, but I have to be honest and say that the italian does not seem very enthusiastic to come back because he is a regular at Juve and he is back in the italian national team.
    I am sure that if Juve don’t respect the deal, another italian club will come in for him. His quality is undoubted.
    Would you trade Soto for Gary Cahill?

  3. With Aquilani back to squad we don’t need Joe Cole at all. Don’t forget we still have the upcoming Sholvey warming up the bench now. If we can get a top class natural winger (Ashley Young)and a proven centre defender (Michael Turner) we will definitely be a genuine title contender in next season. With this squad, we can play 3-5-2, 4-2-3-1, 4-4-1-1 or even 4-4-2 effectively.

  4. Joe Cole, Joe Cole, I cannot understand what is happening to him. If Poulsen can get a second chance why not him. Is he that bad?
    I know he is injured, but even when he played he was not sharp!
    Insua will get a chance and Aurelio will not be sold, thus paying way for Johnson to play in right midfield with Kuyt as an option.
    Liverpool will definitely go for one left winger, A.Young which I am sure of and will look for a playmaker, Charlie Adam, again which I am sure of. Only if Poulsen make a move, then there is a chance for Aquilani, else that money will be spend for Adam. Our big buy is going to be a left winger. One amoung this list Young, Coentro, or Turan. If Lucas decides to leave, which I do not wish, then Liverpool will go for M’Villa and try to hold on to Poulsen.

  5. Interesting that when WE decide to sell a player who is still under contract (you mention Joe Cole as probably leaving because he wants first team games) it seems to be acceptable practice. However, when a PLAYER wants to leave (I offer you Mascherano and Torres) they are branded traitors. Are we being two-faced here?

  6. Kyrgiakos came to Liverpool knowing the situation. He is no lower down the ranks than he was when he first joined and plays when others are injured or need resting. Nothing’s changed there and we would be crazy to get rid of him – he is class.
    If Joe Cole is still keen to impress, let him. I’m still keen to see him play well for us. Regardless of the fact we got him on free we wouldn’t get his worth in a sale right now so i say let him have another year and see.
    The others can go

  7. Spot on the mark with those player you mentioned all to leave. I would like Kenny to explore the idea of seeing what Aquilani can bring to the table and if he’s interested in a return. Seemed very pointless to me to buy a player for 20 mil who was recovering from substantial surgery only to have the club rehabilitate him just to then loan the player out without giving him the time which was afforded to Maxi, Meireles & Lucas and others to find his feet in England. I believe Aqua has quality, hence why he’s well established in the Juve squad.
    Then there is Dirk Kuyt arguably one of the best club man with an enormous work ethic who seems to adjust better than most to changes around him. I know many of my fellow reds supporters will curse me BUT i’d think of moving him along. Kuyt for me is neither a striker or winger capable of hurting many oppositions week in week out. I think Kenny will be looking to bring in some quality out wide and Dirk might be surplus to requirements and too good a man to leave on the bench and perhaps best to sell. Don’t get me wrong I think Kuyt has been strong and loyal but is he what we need to go forward? Just putting it out there.

  8. Aqua has been making noises that he wants to stay in Italy but I still believe he could be tempted back to the EPL. No doubt he’ll be keeping a close eye on our results and progress. The signing of Suarez and Carroll really raising a few peoples eyebrows. He had the ambition to come and play here before, he just wasn’t utilised be it due to injuries or Rafa’s stubbornness. We weren’t exactly flying and everything seemed so negative during his time here. Now that the situation seems to be changing, who knows? maybe he’d consider it.

    ‘Would you trade Soto for Gary Cahill?’ I reckon you’d need around the 16-20m mark to sign Cahill. He’s a fantastic little player but still not convinced he’s worth that money. For me, if we’re looking for a english centre back I’d like to see Scott Dann here. He’s Liverpool through and through.

  9. Gary Cahill will be a good buy Bone, but there no great difference between buying him and trading him to Soto. I prefer to trade Skrtel for Cahill. I know this looks like a bad idea, but if you look Skrtel at oponents set pieces you will understands. He never goes to the ball, just pushes the player. if you still do not believe. just watch carefully from now on.
    I always pray no to give away a penality.

  10. Maxi should go his doing nothing Lucas kuyt they not good kuyt does more wrong miss pass then right pass Lucas plzzz he doesn’t look like a brazelin footballer more as Chinese need new player to challenge for da tittle

  11. Lets be brutal here,cause thats what we need to be if we wanna win the league. How many of our squad would get into the scums team?? (unfortunately they are the benchmark for the last 20 yrs)The answer? ….not many. unfortunately we couldn’t buy/sell the amount of players we’d need to in 1 window,so we’ve got to be smart to target the most urgently required surgery for the summer and make sure we get our No.1 target for each position. IMO we need: 1) winger 2)left back 3)playmaker 4)centre half and 5)back-up striker as priority.So for me its 1) Young/N’Zogbia/Turan 2)Contrauo – by a country mile, need someone of Cole/Evra standard, also young and wants to play for LFC. 3)Adam/Diarra/Defour 4)Gary Cahill 5) Wickham or Negrado. Also like to see more of our exciting youngsters getting games like Pacheco,Suso,Amoo etc. and as Martin Kelly has been such a sucsess at RB would like to see Danny Wilson introduced to play some games at LB so they can both learn how to talk/marshall a defence from Carra while hes still playing before moving inside and forming our centreback partnership in the future. YNWA.

  12. To recap on all your comments so far, I agree with most that Aquilani would do wonders with KK at the helm. In many ways he is very similar to Meireles in his style of play.
    I do agree with one comment that perhaps Skrtel is perhaps the less technical of the current four centre half options. Soto may be slower, but what he lacks in speed he makes up for in aerial power both in defence as well as attack.
    I too believe Cahill would be overpriced at 20 million but them Carroll did not come too cheap at 35!
    The negative comments about Lucas come from people that know nothing about football. Apologies for being blunt, but that’s the way it is.
    With regards to our squad players making the Man Utd side, I’d be cautious in my comments. Last weekend I was talking to someone that is an intimate friend of SAF and he told me that SAF wants to stay till his 30th year in charge (bar health issues) and that United will be doing wholesale changes next summer. As much as 8/9 regular first squad players are on the way out.

  13. I don’t think Insua will be shipped out. Kenny has registered him for the rest of the season (in case Galatasaray try to send him back – a move which Hodgson in his usual wisdow put the blocks on just before he was sacked), so KK is obviously open to him returning, and I hear Comolli was rather unimpressed that Insua had been allowed to leave on loan in the first place. I think he can still make it here, and if the likes of Poulsen have been deserving of a second chance under Kenny’s guidance, then a 22 year old Insua certainly is. He was massively over used last season and made a scapegoat. This time 2 years ago, he was the best thing since sliced bread. Eased in properly and developed well, I think he will be a brilliant player. He should be back up to somebody like Taiwo next season.

    As for our other loanees, they can all be shipped out as far as I’m concerned for whatever we can get for them (barring AA unless Juve come up with the agreed cash). Same goes for Poulsen, Jovanovic, and I’d let Aurelio go too. Not because I don’t rate him, but this is the only chance we’ll get to make any money from him – his fitness just isn’t good enough, it doesn’t look like Kenny fancies him, and I’d rather have Insua as our 2nd choice if we have a LB capable of playing more than about 6 games per season!!

    I’ve heard Darby is going to Notts permanently. I don’t think he will ever make it here – Spearing is the same for me. Let them go.

    Joe Cole has disappointed massively so far, but he’s also had a fair bit of bad luck, I’d give him another season.

  14. Let’s not beat around the bush – Soto is awful. He is not a good defender at all, his positional sense is one of the worst in the EPL and there are cranes that turn faster than him. Have you noticed, every time he has come on as a substitute or played alongside Škrtel (who is only slightly better) we have had the worst games of our season. The upside to him is that he’s made himself look quite impressive and will probably warrant a decent privetag in the summer.

    Aquilani is gone. The moment he arrived at Juve he said he never wanted to come back to Liverpool. He was too weak to play in the EPL in the first place. We now have a better replacement for him in Meireles.

    I personally think Insua has a future at LFC. in 08/09 and 09/10 people were quick to criticise his mistakes (positioning, ball watching, poor marking), without taking into account his young age and some of the brilliant defending he did at times. If he can keep away from MacDonalds I’d say he could be a new player under Kenny.

  15. @Martin – I agree with your assessment of Soto in general. I too feel Skrtel is no really what we need. As for Insua I always thought his biggest weakness was his speed. I can still remember Steven Carr racing past him last year when we faced Birmingham City at St.Andrews last season. Having said that, he too is a young lad that may well be worth a second shot. We can say we are covered on the right flank with Johnson and Kelly, we need to be just as strong on the left.

  16. @Martin

    Skrtel for me has been worse than Soto. I’d like to see Kelly at centrehalf, because I think it’s his best position. Don’t want him being ruined like Insua was though – regardless of what position he’s playing in.

    Insua has actually lost a fair bit of weight – no need to worry about McDonalds I don’t think, but I think it’s unfair anyway that he was branded ‘fat’, since the club actually told the lad to bulk up, and this in turn made him lose some pace. He’s looking slimmer and faster at Galatasaray – the only reason he’s not playing much football over there is because Hagi is a crank who decided he didn’t want loan players, so ignores his existence unless he desperately needs Insua.

  17. I dunno how Cole will get starts or time unless Liverpool is fighting on multi fronts next year again so he may be in mothballs til then, an expensive mothball at that. Much cheaper to use Pacheco as the 3rd string AMC behind Raul/Stevie when needed and somehow lose that salary. Really want to see Pacheco get more consistent playing time.

    Keep Soto strictly as a backup, I like him against target men in the 3 back set. Role player and cost us peanuts so I dont mind at all. Cahill at 20 mil is just too much. Perhaps Kjaer (hope I spelled it right) in the summer or Subotic in a year or so?

    Tired of the Lucas bashing, please watch the games…

    Excited hoping Suarez plays saturday, being that he was out of match shape against Stoke, an extra step and some passing practice with the team should make for a show.

Comments are closed