Liverpool’s 25-man Squad: Who makes it, who doesn’t?

With the new rules coming into effect for this Premiership season, Liverpool and each other Premier League side must name a squad of 25 players, including 8 “home-grown” players. Home-grown players are counted as any player of any nationality who has had at least 36 months training in England or Wales by the time he turns 21, or by the end of the season in which he turns 21.

With this in mind, it is worth taking a look at who qualifies for the Reds and to see how many more we would need to include to fill our quota.

First off, academy graduates Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher, along with England internationals Joe Cole and Glen Johnson, add up to half the needed number. Add to that the expected signing of Middlesbrough goalkeeper Brad Jones who qualifies via the above mentioned 36 months training period and the Reds need to add 3 more home-grown players to the squad list.

Youngsters Nathan Eccleston, David Amoo, Martin Kelly and Jonjo Shelvey are all young enough to not need to be named in the squad list, as unlimited under-21 players can be added to supplement the named 25. The same goes for youngsters Dani Ayala, Dani Pacheco, Danny Wilson and Peter Gulacsi. However, as both Stephen Darby and Jay Spearing turn 22 within the next two months or so, both players would need to be registered if they were to partake in our Premiership campaign. Spearing’s 9 competitive appearances so far in a Liverpool shirt have given me the hope and belief that he can become a player good enough to be in the squad – I don’t for one minute think that he will take Mascherano’s place in the immediate future but the loan spell at Leicester will have done him the world of good and he can be a useful player to cover the likes of Lucas and Poulsen. This is a big season for Jay as he needs to make his mark by this age if he has serious intentions of being a regular for the Reds, otherwise this could be his last at L4.

The same can be said for full-back Darby, who with 6 appearances to date can provide valuable cover for Johnson on the right side, as well as filling in on the left if needed. In all honesty I don’t see Darby’s long term future at Anfield but I believe he could be included in the list this season as cover while we continue to add to the squad in other areas, meaning he would have to grab any opportunity he got in cup games to prove his point. At the moment Martin Kelly seems far ahead of him in the right-back race, so Darby will certainly have his work cut out for game time.

The final home-grown spot is a little trickier. Our options seem to be either to sign somebody, include an under-21 player…. or keep Emiliano Insua. Insua signed initially in January 2007, meaning he completed his 36 months earlier this year, around the same time he turned 21. Assuming that his initial loan spell at the club contributes towards the period of training required, Insua would now count for us as a home-grown player.

Moving onto the rest of the squad, it seems a pretty straight forward decision process:

Goalkeepers: Pepe Reina, Brad Jones (hg1)

Full Backs: Fabio Aurelio, Glen Johnson (hg2), Stephen Darby (hg3), Emiliano Insua (hg4)

Centre Backs: Jamie Carragher (hg5), Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel, Soto Kyrgiakos

Midfielders: Steven Gerrard (hg6), Christian Poulsen, Lucas Leiva, Javier Mascherano, Alberto Aquilani, Joe Cole (hg7), Jay Spearing (hg8)

Wingers: Dirk Kuyt, Ryan Babel, Maxi Rodriguez, Milan Jovanovic

Forwards: Fernando Torres, David Ngog

This gives us a total of 23 players. Presuming that one forward will be added in the coming days – my choice would be Ola Toivonen out of the ones being currently mentioned – we would have 1 space left, or 2 if Mascherano left. Speculation has been rife that a player such as Aleksander Hleb may be used in part exchange for Mascherano, in which case neither the available squad places or the home-grown contingent would be affected.

Diego Cavalieri, Damian Plessis, and Nabil El Zhar would be surplus to requirements on this list, and should be allowed to leave – preferably on permanent deals. Charles Itandje is of course not included and it is hoped he will also move on permanently.

With one remaining space, either another transfer could be used or, if finances do not allow it, what are the chances of turning to a seemingly forgotten forward? Krisztian Nemeth did not feature for the Reds’ first team in the pre-season friendlies or the Europa qualifiers. The Hungarian forward is another who, like Insua, completed his 36 months last season, the season in which he also turned 21. Therefore he should also count as a home-grown player by now. Long tipped for stardom, Nemeth played last summer in pre-season games for Liverpool, scoring twice, and was then loaned to AEK Athens where he was troubled by injury and scored only 3 goals. Another season on loan was mooted but nothing seems to have come off so far. I would be loathed to sell this player who looked a real talent, so hopefully a way to benefit the club can be reached, whether he stays or leaves on loan again. If Insua is sold and a non-home-grown player is brought in to replace him, Nemeth could complete our quota of 8 home-growns and I’m sure many staff who have worked at LFC over the past couple of years would be delighted to see him get a chance in the first team.

I believe the above squad, with the additions of Pacheco, Kelly, Wilson, Ayala, Shelvey and Gulacsi as third ‘keeper, would provide us with enough options and cover to challenge on all four fronts this term.

With days running out until the list needs to be finalised, it is reassuring to know we can put in the requisite number of home-grown players without weakening the squad or leaving out large numbers of seniors, as it seems one or two other clubs may have to do.

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