There appears to be growing cause for concern around Anfield that Pepe Reina may well be the latest star name to leave the club, but is the Spanish goalkeeper irreplaceable?
Well first and foremost, to trot out the tired old cliché and get it out in the open as quickly as possible – ‘no player is bigger than the club’. Of course, if the protracted contract saga involving Wayne Rooney earlier on in this season taught us anything, it was that things are not always as clear cut as this and that sometimes the club has to bend to the player’s will and not the other way around.
Liverpool have suffered over recent seasons with the departures of Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres all hitting the club hard. To lose Reina though would remove the last bastion of the Rafa Benitez era while simultaneously sounding the death knell to any progress the club may hope to achieve in the near future.
Liverpool are not a club that is in free-fall as such, nor are they a club on the decline; estimations of their demise have been and will continue to be greatly exaggerated in some quarters, but it is clear that they are going through a transitional phase both off and on the pitch, one that will require the patience of both the players and the fans.
Fernando Torres, since his departure, has come out with various diatribes about the chaotic state behind the scenes at Anfield that have proved to be a little too close to the bone for some Liverpool fans.
His departure was certainly acrimonious in its nature but Torres has at least been refreshingly honest in his appraisal of the situation describing the reasons for his departure stating:
“In the summer in which Xabi Alonso left, I started to wonder (about leaving). When reinforcements didn’t arrive, I started to wonder if Liverpool were the club it’s history suggests, or if it was in fact a selling club. What other teams could I have gone to? I couldn’t go to Man Utd out of respect for Liverpool. Or Real Madrid because of my past. I don’t think Barcelona needed anyone. I didn’t like the idea of Italy. Chelsea were the only club left, the only option.”
He then goes onto add that:
“The institution was in chaos with the sale. There was all this talk of possible projects. In many ways it reminded me of Atletico Madrid – a great history, many ideas but without money. It needed time. I don’t have that.”
If that last sentence doesn’t send shivers down the most hardened of Liverpool fan’s spines then nothing will. It is clear that FSG are there for the long-haul and that there will be money made for investment in the playing staff should it be asked, but a footballer’s career is only so long and amongst the passion and demand for loyalty from its fans, we can often forget that to most players, this is a career and one in which they will look to get the most out of while they still can. In no other profession is loyalty demanded as readily as it is with footballers.
Pepe Reina has been a loyal and committed player to the club since his arrival in 2005 for £6m from Villarreal, yet the sounds emanating from the Spaniard’s mouth at the moment are most worrying. Reina stated just last week:
“It’s not about being patient, it is about the club winning and I want to be competitive. All I can do is train hard and do my best, but who knows what is going to happen here?”
Reina’s non-committal stance sounds extremely ominous and it is thought he is waiting to decide on his future in the summer upon learning the future direction of the club and the new owner’s plans for it. Former Liverpool player Alan Kennedy came out late last week and said that
“I’d be amazed if Kenny (Dalglish) thought it would be a good idea to cash in on him (Reina) like he did with Torres, because for me, Pepe is irreplaceable” before rather correctly adding in my view that “any replacement is going to be a step down.”
During his time at Liverpool, Reina has matured into arguably the top flight’s best goalkeeper. He may still prone to the odd horrendous error, but his dominant presence in between the sticks is invaluable to Liverpool’s ambitions and he has undoubtedly been the club’s most consistent player over the last 18 months or so, which tells you everything you need to know about how Liverpool have fared.
Irreplaceable is a strong word, but put into the context of the fragility of the side at the moment and how crucial he is to their future ambitions and hopes for success and Reina does begin to look irreplaceable. To lose him in the summer would be a crushing blow.
You can trace Liverpool’s recent woes back to the sale of Xabi Alonso, a player alienated by the harsh managerial style of Rafa Benitez and his very public pursuit of Gareth Barry as his replacement. Alonso was crucial to the side’s style of play, yet it was only after he departed that everyone began to realise just how crucial he was. It could well prove to be a very similar situation with Reina – a goalkeeper whose ability on the ball, command of his defence and skill set between the sticks is unmatched in terms of influence on the rest of his team mates. He is undoubtedly the most influential goalkeeper currently operating in the top tier of English football.
The club remains one that is in transition and with situations of this nature the one thing above all that is required is time, whether Reina has that though remains to be seen and the initial signs are not promising. Liverpool should be bending over backwards to keep him at the club, and sorting out his future should be the club’s top priority in the summer.
They say that pride comes before a fall, and if the club wish to take the ‘no player is bigger than the club’ stance that has become the mantra for embittered fans up and down the country, then they may well lose Reina in the summer. The natural reaction to incidents like this is to side with the club above the player, yet in this instance, it is down to the chaotic nature in which the club has been run in the past that has pushed certain players out of the door in order to pursue their own personal ambitions.
Man Utd were forced into an embarrassing climb down of sorts over the Wayne Rooney contract debacle. Ferguson was forced to meet the player’s demands in order to keep him at the club – an unheard turn of events for a manger famous for his cut-throat nature in dealings such as this. Ferguson realised that a Man Utd side with Rooney in is stronger than any transfer kitty they may receive from the deal, let alone seeing their local rivals, Man City in this case, profit from the move.
Saving face is all well and good but if it comes at the expense of success, then in the long-run, this is no way to run a football club – Liverpool will do well to remember this when discussing Reina’s future at the club.
It may not be what most fans want to hear or like to see, but the truth of the matter is that players garner more power over their clubs now than their clubs have over them. Reina remains an irreplaceable asset at a pivotal point in the club’s recent history, it would be to their detriment not to pull out all the stops to keep him, even if it isn’t easy on the eye or the palette as Man Utd and Arsenal look to be waiting in the wings for his services.
The article was written by James McManus for FootballFancast.com. Make sure to check out the latest news, blogs and podcasts at FFC – ed.
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Pepe is not irreplaceable. Getting shot of Torres will be much harder than Pepe. If the man doesn’t want to stay, let him go.
I think that people are getting carried away with some of Reina’s comments. He’s just speaking the honest truth and nobody should begrduge him for that.
The simple fact though is that no player is irreplaceable – as long as you bring in players of similar calibre (e.g. Carroll and Suarez for Torres) rather than making such a massive downgrade in quality (e.g. Lucas or Barry for Alonso) then the team should carry on just fine…
He would never go to Man. U.
LIKE PEPE STATED HE WANTS WHAT ALL LFC FANS WANT TO B CHALLENGING 4 MAJOR HONOURS SO FSG GET YA HANDS IN YA WALLET & SPEND SOME MONEY THIS SUMMER SO WE CAN CHALLENGE 4 THE PREMIERSHIP OUR TEAM RITE NOW IS 5 OR 6 QUALITY PLAYERS SHORT Y.N.W.A
I hope Pepe stays as he is one of the best keepers in the world, but i do suspect that he will move back to Spain to help him achieve his aims with the Spanish national team. If he does leave I’m sure we will find a suitable replacement as there are a lot of young talented goalkeepers around at the moment, such as Lloris, De Gea, Asenjo, Neuer, Stekelenburg most of whom would jump at the chance to play for a club like ours.
if he wants out let him go,like kenny says noone is biogger than liverpool.we will get another keeper and soon.lets get the 22m from his sale and we will get a good keeper for 14m and the 7m will be used to buy adam
Kenny should sit him down with Damien Comolli and outline their plans for the future, telling him that he’s a major part of this plan.
However the club will allow him to move if he so wishes to do so, but the PRice will be £20+ and the LFC won’t sell to any team in the top half of the Premiership. As his situation is very different from Torres.
Not irreplacable at all. There’s many young goalies out there at the moment. If he wants to go, then he should go. I just wish he’d shut up in the media and keep it in house ‘the Liverpool way’.
As long as he’s not sold to any of the teams currently above us. Reina was a nothing when he joined us, same as torres. All potential, that was it. Same as Xabi and Masch i guess. We turn them into world class players and then they jump ship saying we’re not ambitious. If they’d all stayed, we’d have been ambitious.
I do blame Rafa for starting it all by chasing Barry and p*ssing of Xabi. Though to be fair to him, the 2 seasons prior tothe season we finished 2nd, Xabi had been poor for us. We never would have got half the 30m we got for him at that time.
Where do I start? Bevan one huge problem with your arguement, He’s called Iker Casillas and he has 117 caps nearly 100 more than Pepe despite being only 15 months older. If you think Pepe will displace him because he moves to Spain you are quite simply deluded.
Tony come on why are you calling for FSG to spend money, they will, they did in January despite the departure of torres. Did you not hear Dirk Kuyt’s comments yesterday? He basically said he strongly suspects we’ll spend big money in the summer, i.e I’ve been reassured that we’ll spend and if we don’t I’ve been lied to. Now let’s look at this FSG aren’t stupid they know what went on and anything they’ve promised so far has been delivered on, furthermore they know if they break promises they will face a backlash which will put the heat on them. In addition these are successful business people who have a track record in sports, they know our squad is a way off and unless they invest the “brand” suffers so logic tells you they’ll invest.
The article is a load of put together quotes, misinformation and speculation. This is my favourite “Liverpool have suffered over recent seasons with the departures of Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano and Fernando Torres all hitting the club hard. To lose Reina though would remove the last bastion of the Rafa Benitez era while simultaneously sounding the death knell to any progress the club may hope to achieve in the near future”. I’ll give the point that we miss Xabi and Mascherano but Torres DO ME A FAVOUR! We have benefitted from his departure his sulking attitude was getting me more annoyed than seeing the curent WBA manager in our dugout. We now have a player who seems determined to be a success and fight for the team in Luis Suarez. Sure how many of us disagree with Comoli’s assertation that selling Torres lifted the mood round Anfield, we are a better team without him. Furthermore while I like Rafa this is now the Kenny era so I trust him and if he thinks everyone who Rafa bought should be shipped out (he doesn’t, Kuyt is getting a new contract) then so be it. And as for the death knell comment what a joke if Pepe wants out go on we’ll move on and get better.
Reina is a much better keeper than Casillas, Don’t get me wrong Casillas is the better shot stopper but Reina better organises his defense and his delivery is better. overall Reina is the better keeper, the reason why Casillas is the Spanish no. 1 is that he plays in spain and did brilliantly in a penalty shootout a few years ago, don’t respond by quoting a load of stats off wikipedia as they are meaningless, I formed my opinions by watching them play not by reading something written on wiki.
Also your logic that because Casillas has made more appearances than Reina in the Spanish national team makes him a better player is ridiculous, Robbie Fowler only played around 30 games for England whilst Heskey played more than double that, they only had a few years between them in age, are you going to tell me that Heskey is a better player than Fowler????
@ STEVE Past is past can’t turn back the clock,we gotta look forward,as for reina i know how he feel cos everything doesn’t look the same anymore but now things getting better a little but that doesn’t mean the man is convince of better times ahead after all the H/G scum promises but i’m prepare to take a brave step forward to give our young keeper a chance,never try never know,just like the fernando who case,now we got ourself a more complete striker in el pistolero,CHEERS
At no time has Pepe stated that he wants to leave the club and he constantly reiterats that he has just signed a long contract with Liverpool. BUT no player is bigger than the club – period!
So for me the whole article is a non-starter because
1) ALL players want to play at the highest level by competing in Europe, winning titles and trophies
2) WE ALL want the clubs owners to invest in new players to improve/reinforce the squad and make the team more competative.
3) Why should he have to pledge his future to the club (after signing a 6 year contract in 2010) when the club could quite easily decide to replace him? (ask Jerzy Dudek)
4) Do we really want him to come out with the same sort of drivel that Torres did?
At the time that Rafa wanted to sell Xabi for a reported £7 mill but no-one was interested as he’d had a couple poor seasons.
BUT no player is bigger than the club – period!
Point 1 : Admittedly not read the whole article above but ……. sick of people saying we are going through a transitional phase, apparantly we have been transitioning since the last time we won the league. We are not transitioning we just have not had the calibre of players that have come in to sustain the expectations of LFC.
Point 2 : Like most, I wouldnt like to see Pepe leave but if the worse case scenario happens there are not alot of quality options around – De Gea, Stekelenburg and Neuer are the only ones with quality worth considering.
Point 3 : Bring back Alonso
Never keep an unhappy player.if he wants to go let him go
Liverpool must keep Pepe Reina because he is one who give confidence to his defense and has the right mentality to compete. Of course he wants to win trophies and this is what all Lverpool’s fans are waiting. Liverpool must buy world class players for quick results couple with a few young players for years to come. Give Reina what he wants will encourage players to stay with the club.
The difference between Reina & Torres. Work Ethics. Got no problem with players moving on. It is their life and they make the decisions to suit them best just as you would for yourself and your family. We have no right to blast anyone over such personal decisions. Transfers to some teams hurt more than others but life goes on, LFC goes on. I wish anyone good luck with their future endeavours.
However back to work ethics. Maybe Reina has wanted to go for a while, but you will never see it on the pitch. Why? Because well hell, he is still a player in contract, making millions of dollars. For most though i am sure it is pride that makes them excel not finances but how many of you enjoy your job? Is it as good as playing for Liverpool? Do you get away with walking aroung with your head down doing nothing. I put my hand up to make that kind of money and be unhappy at work, no problem. 1-2 games a week of effort is what is needed and Reina supplies it. It is unforgetable what Torres did to us in the end, and thats not leave, i talk about his effort during games in the end. Pathetic sooking for over a year and not puting in the effort required because his life was soooo terrible he could not do that for us. He may have been told things that didn’t eventuate but its not like LFC didn’t want them to come to fruition either.
Sorry for Torres rant but I will respect Reina till the end as long as he does what he’s paid to do. If he wants to leave, all the best to him.
To be fair Torres looked hopeless in his first 8 games for Chelsea so you can’t accuse him of sulking there. He has just become alil stale with injuries and not having a break when fit…
Anyways Reina should be made captain simple… He clearly was making all this fuss because he wanted the club to act in the transfer Market and now that they have he can see a reason to stay!
I don’t believe for a second that he would wanted to leave after signing a massive 6th contract….
Replaceable? Not at a chance in hell!!!