One of the best left backs at the World Cup, Mexico’s Carlos Salcido has been linked with Liverpool in recent days. The price quoted for Salcido has been around €3million or £2.5million. Surely, for an international left back, this seems all too good to be true? One of the main reasons he is available for so little though is the fact he has had a very public falling out with his club’s manager, PSV’s Fred Rutten. He is available for transfer this summer, and the fact he is now 30 years of age, means he will not demand a massive fee.
The £2.5million speculated upon is still surprisingly low though, and I would expect that PSV’s asking price will probably be a bit higher than that. Especially with interest being shown from Valencia, Roma and even Wigan, a bidding war could take place which would lead to a much higher offer being needed. In any case, Salcido is still a very realistic target to look at. With funds available possibly with the imminent departure of Emiliano Insua, Salcido seems an interesting possible transfer.
Now an experienced Mexican international, Salcido started out life at the fabled Guadalajara youth academy and made his debut for Chivas in 2001 in the Mexican Premier Division against La Piedad. He spent the next five years at the Guadalajara club, breaking into the first team in 2003, and he made 105 league appearances for the club over the next few years. During that time, he finished league runners up with Chivas in 2004 and helped the Mexican club to two Copa Libertadores semi final appearances in 2005 and 2006.
During this time, he had also been called up for Mexico’s national team and made his debut for his country against Ecuador in 2004. He proved to be an absolute star during Mexico’s Confederations Cup campaign in 2005 as the team made a creditable fourth place finish. They lost out to Argentina in the semi-final, but not before Salcido scored a fantastic goal after a mazy run from his own half. He started all five matches during the tournament and kept his place in the side playing at both centre back and left back.
Equally adept at playing either position, Salcido was called up by coach Ricardo Lavolpe for the World Cup in Germany in 2006, and he was once again a regular starter as Mexico lost out to Argentina in the last 16. His performances however attracted a lot of attention and speculation was rife about a move to a big European club. He eventually moved to PSV Eindhoven and he has been the regular left back for the Dutch club for the past four seasons, appearing 121 times in the league as PSV won the Eredivisie title in 2007 and 2008.
Although naturally right footed, Salcido has always played on the left side as either a centre back or full back, and relies on his pace, work rate and high fitness levels to make himself a consummate defender. Experienced at the highest level, he has played in both the Champions league and two World Cups, impressing once again in the tournament in South Africa where his runs from the left hand side troubled many opposition defences. He is certainly one left back that Roy Hodgson should take under consideration.
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I would much prefer Figueroa….!!!!!
Royston Drenthe for me, pace, power and proven.
i watched this guy in the world cup looked good, good strong bulky in defence and looked good going forward big n powerfull and had a leathel left boot reminded me of riise. hes worth a pop because hes only 2 million i don’t think figeroas miles better than him and hes expensive, even royston drenther is another good option he’ll be leaving madrid as a reject should be cheap and was a decent player before he went to madrid get drenthe n salcido we do need 2 left backs for cover for the long season ahead
If the figure mentioned is accurate then we should certainly purchase him and another younger LBlet them fight it out for the number 1 spot and the other will be cover.
Yet another thirty something being touted. We need young players who we wil get some life out of.
bargain!showed he is still up for it at world cup.better than wasting millions like in the past
Bill – Hodgson is obviously focusing on older players as he is under pressure to perform now and has no assurances that he will be in charge in 3-4 years, so he has to focus on a short term strategy. There is no point in him developing young players now and then losing Torres next year while also seeing Gerrard’s ability deteriorate even further. It makes sense!
Bubbles – how exactly is Drenthe proven??? That guy would be a massive risk (no first team football in years and is not naturally a defender) and more than likely be a failure as LB at our club – especially with Johnson on the opposite flank!
For me, the guy has all the answers to liverpool’s back problems. He has power to defend & speed to attack. If we sign the guy & kept torres we’ll be on the right track for our first premier league title in 20years. Please someone tell mr Hogson to sign that left back. Die hard liverpool fan.
I agree with Derrick and Zahid. With them both, Liverpool might just be unstoppable(Includes no leaves) This might even be a joyous season for LFC as well as all their fans.
I think SHort term Strategic would be a good idea as what Hodgson do now. Before Roy going deeper in transforming Liverpool, SHort term strategic really needed. We couldn’t seriously rely on the reserve & youth in a sudden of time. But still i prefer them to be play on the field. May not in the league but in all the domestic’s Cup. So, the article wrote is true i think Liverpool should go for this Mexican as well as Drenth. Why i said both? Because We are human, human get injured & EPL is a Fast & physical football league. The players normally get injured easily. I think this decision will shut up all the critics.