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A Surprising Fact that Comolli wouldn’t have Failed to Notice

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There seems to be a divided opinion among Liverpool fans about the prospective signing of Scott Dann. On the one hand, you have those that rate him not only because he is a Scouser, but also because he has made up half of a decent centre back pairing with Roger Johnson at Birmingham City. On the other hand, you have those who believe that Dann is overpriced and that he is slow and lacks the talent to play as a “footballing” centre half alongside Jamie Carragher, Martin Skrtel or Daniel Agger.

To some extent there is a merit to the argument that Dann maybe more in the mould of a no-nonsense centre half a la Carragher, and there could be a case to be had that if Carragher and Dann were paired as a partnership there would be a lack of an intelligent passer at the back who could set up attacks.

I am inclined to believe though that Liverpool Director of Football Damien Comolli and manager Kenny Dalglish have done their homework on Dann, and believe he is worth the £10million price tag mooted in reports. If we compare Phil Jones, widely renowned as a centre back who can pass a ball, to Dann in regards to passing last season, a surprising statistic emerges which Comolli wouldn’t have failed to notice.

According to the Opta Index, while Dann played 20 league games last season, Jones played 26 times but the average amount of passes per 90 minutes is heavily skewed in Dann’s favour. He made 681 passes at an average of 34.05 per ninety minutes while Jones made 683 passes at an average of just 28.25 per ninety minutes.

For sure, these stats could be disregarded if Dann failed to be accurate with his passes. Again though, the Scouser comes out on top with 73% of passes being completed compared to just 62% of Jones’s. Although it is fair to say that Jones is learning his trade and is 5 years younger than Dann, is it really so that Jones is worth more than £7million more? At the moment, the stats say no, although with Jones you are paying for potential more than anything.

Of course, this doesn’t dismiss some people’s argument that buying like PSG’s Mamadou Sakho wouldn’t be a better option. Both the French defender and Lyon’s Dejan Lovren have also been linked but both will definitely cost significantly more than Dann, and since the Birmingham City defender has already played in the Premier League, the question for Dalglish and Comolli will be whether taking a risk on a more expensive player abroad is the way to go. What do you think?

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16 comments

  • vishnu4lfc says:

    For me gary cahill of bolton will be the best while comparing to there guys first of all he is an english and the his buy out clause seems to be in the region of 16million so its an fair price and superb price while comparing to jones price so i will go for it but ryan shawcross of stoke will also an better shout so any how “in king v trust”

  • McTabish says:

    Trust me, as a blues fan, Dann is worth about £15-20m. At 24 and with his ability as a natural defender, he cant be worth less than Jones.Gonna be a shame to see him (and most likely Johnson) go in the next few weeks but he is a top top defender. We have had some top defenders over the last 10 years or so (Purse, Cunningham, Vickers) and We had Upson and few years ago….but Dann is by far the best.

  • nigel says:

    good centre backs we may be able to snare with prem experience definitely have definitely got to be cahill, dann, roger johnson and shawcross. If we did go abroad there are plenty of talented players- subotic, hummels, sakho, chiellini- but can we attract them without european football? Prob not. so we should be realistic this summer with transfer targets and ive a good vibe about our strategy this summer. Dont think we will be buying any more average and/or injury prone players on big wages- jovanovic, ngog, aquilani, cole, degen, poulsen etc are a thing of the past under our current management structure.

  • m kop says:

    I’d get him for a fair price. I wouldn’t overpay.

    But definitly, Liverpool needs to sell Poulsen, Kyrgiakos, Jovanovic and Cole, Konchesky if he is still in the team.

  • jacko says:

    i’d love us to sign Dan he loves the club already so he’d play his heart out every time !good centre half an ideal replacement for our next manager Jamie C!!

  • anfield rd dreamer says:

    I’m not sure where this opinion of Scott dann not being a ball player has come from. Certainly not from any Birmingham fans I’ve spoken too! The tactics Birmingham use limit the offensive capabilities of dann and Johnson both of which may have only scored 2 league goals (dann with less appearances) but Johnson had a 1 in 9 goals record and dann 1 in 11 before they joined Birmingham. Dann is definitely not in the skrtel/carragher mold of centre back! If he joins a free playing quality footballing side like kenny is building he could become something special!

  • Jazzy says:

    If you’ve seen jones play he’s more john terry than agger, he’s not a well renowned passer of the ball at all he’s no nonsense.

    I don’t mind dann as squad cover but look at our options: agger (injury prone), carragher (turns 34 in january shouldn’t be 1st choice), that leaves skrtel who’s good, not great and kyrgiakos on his way out. Wilson too young and Kelly hasn’t played there and ayala looks on his way out.

    For me we need gary cahill he’d be perfect. But man city are interested. Of course there’s the foreign option of sakho.

    I don’t mind dann but only sign him if he’s good enough to replace carrager and agger as 1st choice, which i doubt.

  • Ben says:

    @ McTabish – Cheers for your input, so refreshing to get a fan from another club go onto the forums of a rival club and write something useful and not antagonistic! From what I have seen of Dann I think he would be a good buy and if fans that see him week in week out think so that even better! After watching Jones play against Spain U21’s I can’t see any sort of ball playing/passing centre back there at all. I thought Smalling looked far more accomplished than he did, so not sure where he’s going to fit in an united? I am convinced he was bought to keep him out of our clutches for some reason or other (managerial rivalry!!)!!

    Good luck for next season McTabish and we’ll hopefully see you back up soon!!

  • michael says:

    agree with jazzy. i wouldnt mind shawcross dann or cahill. 2 of those 3 soto and skrtil can go.

  • hadi lfc fan says:

    good news

  • Wolfie says:

    The sooner we get that crucial cb partnership sorted out the better our chances to make top 4 and better next season. Carra is sadly past his prime – still gives his all and his experience counts for a lot but he’s past his physical best (no euro footy will help him though). Skrtl is reliable but does not dominate enough, can panic at times, and is a poor passer of the ball. Agger is like Robin Van Persie – very classy for 15-20 games a season and injured for the rest.

    Dann is definitely worth £10m in the current market, knows the rigours of the PL and will play for the shirt. I actually think we need Dann and Cahil but I can’t see us buying both players. If only one I do think Cahil is a bit better than Dann but Dann might be much better value for money and will do a decent job. If we qualify for the CL next season we can improve is this area again.

  • zahid says:

    I would welcome Dann aswell as Gary Cahill or Shawcross even Jagielka for that matter but don’t expect the latter to come. However i don’t think we should over spend on Dann, to be fair to the lad he had a good season before getting injured, but it was one good season. Cahill and Shawcross have been more consistent. There have been rumours that Daniel Agger my be sold so that Cahill and Dann can come in id probably take that, even tho im a huge Agger fan i think hes prone to getting injured……YNWA

    • Shaun says:

      Zahid..agree bro!, but not Cahill (Very over-rated!) or Jagielka! Shawcross I’d take, but I want the Scouse in our lineup..Adios Agger! Eh David Tulley…I spoke about the Opta Index comparisons on the last Dann article!..Good lookin out!…and NO ADAM Kenny!! Come on, where you gonna play all these mid-fielders? and even though Raul is approaching 30, I say NO to letting him go! Its only his first season!…INS: Dann (or Sakho, if LFC have become ManCity with all the money! :s, Turan/or/Guardado/or/N’Zogbia/or/Jeffren, Park Chu Young (to come off the bench) and Daniel Sturridge/or/Bojan (Great 3rd/4th Striker to have)

  • soebi says:

    Sakho, dann, lovren…bring ’em all, end of story !!

    • zahid says:

      Would love Sakho for sure and Yann M’Villa i see him as the next Essien/Yahya Toure but doubt we see him coming since we only want British. What i don’t get is we probably have more British players then our main rivals do we really need anymore?????

  • RDN says:

    i would prefer Dann, he did well, very active and versatile, the price is abordable, a fans as well will play in fovour of a DIE HEART, what infact we need, we are not in european league, so we should look & think accordingly.

    ynwa

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