Liverpool‘s caretaker manager Kenny Dalglish has done an excellent job since taking over after Roy Hodgson’s short and poor spell in charge. The Reds are now in a great position in the Premier League to challenge for a European qualification for next season, whilst January transfer signing Luis Suarez has already made a great impression. With Andy Carroll gradually seeing more action in a Liverpool shirt, fans are starting to feel more positive since the sale of Fernando Torres back in January.
However, Reds fans know that their club still needs to sign new players if King Kenny (or whoever is in charge come the summer) is to get the club back into the top four mix where they believe the club belongs. There are a few positions in the squad that need strengthening but could Liverpool be in danger of a huge overhaul this summer that isn’t necessary?
It’s clear that players like Paul Konchesky and Alberto Aquilani are expected to be sold at the end of the season with players like Blackpool’s Charlie Adam and Newcastle United’s Jose Enrique or Everton’s Leighton Baines, often cited as replacements. But could there be even more players leaving Anfield with new faces coming in?
The new director of football at the club, Damien Comolli spoke about transfer matters yesterday saying:
“The owners said from day one they want to improve things and turn things around quickly and I have said the same thing since I arrived, so I expect a busy summer.”
It will be positive news for Liverpool fans that the club are already making plans for necessary changes in the summer, but there could be a danger of the squad being changed too much and the Reds could need another season for the new team to gel before they could think about challenging for the top four again.
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Also, former manager Rafa Benitez has said that returning to Liverpool as manager in the future would be his dream job. With Kenny Dalglish still not confirmed as the permanent Liverpool manager, is there a chance that Rafa could be one of the new faces appearing on Anfield in the summer, along with new signings?
On the other hand, Rafa’s comments could just have be blown out of proportion to make for a good news story, after all he’s currently out of work as a football manager and wants to return, particularly to England and the Premier League and not just Liverpool.
The key topic in hand here is that Liverpool are moving forward with Comolli’s comments about summer signings being very positive and that owners Fenway Sports Group / NESV have the right ambitions for the club to succeed, making it a very exciting time for fans of the Merseyside club.
If there are several new players appearing in the Red shirt next season, it will be good for the long term success of the club but I just hope fans bare in mind that it will almost be a squad of new players that still need to gel and develop team chemistry. Although if Roberto Mancini at Manchester City is able to qualify his dream team into the top four this season, there is a chance for Liverpool to do the same…but the first signing they need to make is a permanent manager.
The article was written by Matt G-Freebody for FootballFancast.com. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.
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Kenny Dalglish should be given the manager’s job permanently unless Jose Mourinho is available (recently said his next job will be in England). NESV’s philosophy is to have a young manager who can work along with Director of Football Damien Comolli but at the moment, there are no decent young managers available unless they are going to go for the Porto guy which would be a huge risk.
Clearly, there are players at the club who are just not good enough or will never cut it at Liverpool so I suggest we sell the following players: Jones, Darby, Degen, Konchesky, Insua, Aurelio, Irwin, Spearing, Poulsen, El Zhar, Maxi, Jova and Ngog.
Liverpool need at least 5 top class players to come in and I think we need a centre back, left back, centre midfielder and two wingers so the following players should be considered:
Centre back- Kjaer, Mertesacker, Cahill
Left back- Baines, Taiwo, Coentrao
Centre midfielder- McCarthy, Adam, Hamsik, Sissoko, M’Vila
Wingers- Hazard, N’Zogbia, Young, Elia, Turan, Afellay
Agree with you on most things but as much as i would love to see Mourinho at LFC it wont happen and the reasons being that Mourinho will not work under a director of football. He will want full control and about £150m to spend on players regardless of age, which is not what NESV are about. They are willing to spend but not on massive contracts to players who are on their last legs. NESV want to spend on players who can spend some time at the club and if things dont work out they can be moved on without the loss of too much money…This is not the way Mourinho opperates….I really hope im wrong though….
YNWA…..
We don’t want Moaningyo and the way he works at Liverpool. He would never follow the Liverpool way!
The owners already got a massive discount on Liverpool’s price, so I don’t see why a big spree couldn’t be expected (although it would’ve been wiser to get it under way in January when any spend would not have counted against any future fair play considerations)
In regards to Benitez though, No. Just simply, No.
Jay, do you just follow the word Benitez around the internet? I notice you popping up all over the place (usually where Benitez’s name is mentioned) making the same comments, with the same ‘I know more than you, therefore your opinion is moot’ attitude. Wise up mate and start to actually back up your opinion with facts rather than just statements to the contrary of whatever the writer has said.
Tom, nope I follow LFC around the internet and comment on many more articles than just those about Benitez. Funnily enough though, most articles on Benitez do tend to be related to Liverpool – weird eh!
Which of my opinions do you want me to back up anyway; That the owners got a bargain on the club?? That transfers made during the winter wouldn’t have counted against the new fair play rulings??
Maybe you should try to pick me apart in a relevant post, rather than here where there is nothing for you to base any (logical) argument on…
That’s assuming of course, that the players we want were ready to be sold in Jan. and at the price that is fair!
Magnamopus – Carroll wasn’t ready to be sold in Jan or available at a ‘fair price’. Sometimes you just have to bite the bullet in order to move forwards…
i agree. Big changes are needed. If at all possible we need to sell- jones, degen, insua, darby, el zhar, aquilani, jovanovic, ngog, maxi, poulsen at least. Get them off the wage bill. Enough wasting time with stop gap, third or fourth choice signings. How much could we get by selling them? £40m? Thats a great start. We need to be targeting players like moussa sissoko, m’vila, coentrao, lucas (sao paulo), hazard, jovetic, young, shaqiri, lukaku, whickam, chamberlain, kjaer, sakho, hummels, subotic, off top of my head.
The argument of a Man City settling period is a pertinent one, nevertheless we have one huge advantage which is many of the players we will be moving on are not currently involved with our first team. Aquilani, Degen, El Zhar, Konchesky, Jones and Insua (I know many Liverpool fans want him back, but the guy isn’t even making the Galatasaray team which suggests that he is not up to snuff)are already out on loan so their departure (whether for a fee or not) will not impact the team. Other players who are likely to leave such as Poulsen, Jovanovic and possibly Cole have had negligable impact and therefore again their departure is unlikely to be a major issue. More to the point all these departures will significantly reduce our wage bill. Thus our squad overhaul could be relatively painless and by keeping the majority of our first team together we will have a settled team into which we can gradually introduce our new signings.
As for the introduction of new players I would not like to suggest names (although I like all others enjoy the guessing game) mainly because I have been so impressed by Suarez’s character and I did not know that until after our scouting department made the point! Nevertheless I would suggest that we would benefit from a new left back (personally I’d keep Aurelio because whenever he does play, I know it’s rare, he has such quality) and centre back, new wide players and a centre mid.
I have to say that Comolli’s interview filled me with yet more hope for next year and I cannot wait to see who we get! YNWA.
The Gala manager has been quoted as not wanting loan players because they will be leaving so that is why Insua doesn’t play much!
i dissagree with some of the views that people make in this colum,but first the nesv should give mr,KENNY a permanent appointment and i can’t understand why they[nesv]still remains reluctant to do that,about those to lfc am expecting players like-poulsen-jovanovic-ngog-elzar-irwin-darby-dengen-jones-konchesky,then the manager have to bring top players whom we’ve read about them every time in the club website,also to bring -SHAY GIVEN-as a replacement for -pepe reina,GIVEN is an experience keeper and MR,kenny is the man who can take lfc to were it belongs.
Kenny will be permanent manager no doubt about it.
I’m sure Rafa does want the job but he had his chance and he left us with a very average squad,but i will give him credit for the youth development and the champions league of course.
But its a new era now and Kenny is the one to guide us through it.
I’m sure he will get the balance right and sell and spend were its needed.
I would just like to add too many people are given Cole a hard time we all know what he’s capable of we just need to be patient he’ll find his form
Is it not fair to say, NESV have not spent a penny on signings as yet???? With Torres and Babel leaving may they have actually been close to break even??? I would certainly hope we get some seriously classy signings and more dead wood shipped out, would be a very happy man if 4 or 5 or Erics buying suggestions came true. Cheers, Law
i would like to have douglas costa n turan on the wings, coentrao on the left back, cahill as a center back and hazard or eriksen behind our strikers suarez and carrol (great playmaker) we can use our youngsters as a substitute fr them if they injured. they too could gain some first team experience ( our youngsters look very promising)
Just two names Sanchez and Lavezzi for me