This summer’s transfer window has very much been a mixed one for Liverpool. While the vast majority of us were pleased with the seven players who were brought in – particularly big money buys Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke – there was a large amount of backlash regarding the players we let go.
Lazar Markovic and Tiago Ilori, both players with immense potential, were allowed to go out on loan to Fenerbahce and Aston Villa respectively – placing a big question mark over their long term futures at the club.
Of course, if they were to be sold around this time next year, it wouldn’t be the first error of judgement we’ve made when selling a player. In the list below, we count down six players that could still be playing a role in our first-team squad today, and discuss where we got it wrong in our decision making…
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6) Daniel Agger
Brendan Rodgers allowed the Dane to leave us in the summer of 2014. Considering Agger’s love of Liverpool and the distinctive lack of leaders in our current squad, this still seems a very strange decision. Admittedly, the player was past his prime and had endured his fair share of problems with injuries, but it’s hard to see what should have prevented from us keeping him on in at least a bit-part role – similar to the one that Kolo Toure currently plays for us. Throw in the fact that he’s a naturally left-footed player, something our back four is oddly short on, and you have an even stronger case for welcoming him back. He feels a little wasted playing pack in his native Denmark.
5) Jonjo Shelvey
It’s easy to see why Shelvey was sold – his unpredictability and relatively poor discipline on the pitch could be enough to put off any manager. However, Rodgers should have better understood that the player, who was only 21 when he left Liverpool, was still far from reaching his full potential – something which he could easily have done with us had we stuck by him. His recent progress at Swansea has been underlined by his recall to the England squad for this month’s England internationals, and while many of you would no doubt point out that he’s not as good as a Henderson or a Milner, how many of you would take him right now over Joe Allen or Lucas Leiva?
4) Emiliano Insua
For a Liverpool squad so bereft of talented left-backs since the departure of John Arne Riise in 2008, it seems incredible to think that we didn’t give Insua more of a chance during his time at Liverpool. He played in 44 games during the 2009-10 season and was one of the few bright sparks during an otherwise disappointing campaign. He’s since gone on to play for Atletico Madrid, with whom he won three major trophies, and won a cap for his native Argentina. He’s still only 26 and could have easily developed to a much greater extent had he continued to play games regularly at Liverpool. Instead, we have Joe Gomez playing out of position and Moreno on the bench.
3) Pepe Reina
It’s hard to comprehend quite why Reina was let go in the way in which he was. As the Daily Express have since confirmed, the Spaniard was in line to join Barcelona before the move fell through, and he ended up joining Napoli on loan with Liverpool having already signed Simon Mignolet to replace him. It was a truly bizarre set of circumstances unlike any that had previously been seen. The fact of the matter is though – Reina could easily have had another two or three years at Liverpool. Despite spending last season sitting on the bench at Bayern Munich, he’s still only 33 – a decent age for a goalkeeper – and could still be helping lead us in the right direction.
2) Mikel San Jose
Would we all be talking about or problems with Dejan Lovren and Mamadou Sakho if this young Spaniard had been given a fair chance back during his spell at former club Liverpool? San Jose, who failed to make a senior appearance for us during his three years at the club, rejoined boyhood club Athletic Bilbao after leaving Anfield and has since established himself as one of the best centre-backs in La Liga. He’s played more than 200 times for the club in all competitions and helped his side win the Spanish Super Cup with a huge victory over Barcelona last month. His exploits have even earned him recognition on the international stage, where he has won three caps.
1) Xabi Alonso
Surely the greatest sin of the Rafael Benitez era – and arguably the reason for his eventual departure – was allowing Alonso to go to Real Madrid and replacing him with Alberto Aquilani, who arrived at the club injured and never truly recovered. During his time at Liverpool, Alonso had won the Champions League, the FA Cup and two other minor trophies, reached another European final and finished second in the Premier League – if we’d wanted to fight and keep him then surely we had enough ammunition to convince him to do so? The Spaniard has instead continued his hugely successful career with Madrid and Bayern Munich – winning another seven major titles.
