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Flawed Record Shows Loans As The Way Forward For Liverpool FC

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TO say Liverpool have not got value for money with most of their signings over the last 2 years would be akin to saying that Mark Hughes is a god like figure beloved by the fans of QPR.

Outside of Luis Suarez, Liverpool’s recent acquisitions have been a mixture of disappointment and downright catastrophe.

Now, we are all well aware of the recruits that have failed to deliver but if we think in terms of value for money, there is a complete mismatch in terms of sums spent and the calibre of player brought in.

For example, we sold Javier Mascherano, who at the time was rated as one of the best defensive midfielders in the world, for £18m and we have recently bought Joe Allen for £15m. Now I am not about to argue that Joe Allen’s price was not a fair price or even that he has not been value for money but I will argue that there is no way that there is only £3m between the value of Mascherano at that point, and Allen when we bought him. One had played in the Champions League Final and was sought after by Barcelona, the other had played one season in the Premier League.

The reason I choose these two is not because I have an issue with Allen, it is because he has actually performed in a red shirt and he can be delicately contrasted to another Liverpool midfielder by the name of Nuri Sahin.

Sahin is a player of repute who had been bought for big money by Real Madrid and could have moved for a hefty fee to Anfield had we decided to purchase him. Now, I actually believe that Sahin is a talented footballer who will improve as he gets accustomed to the Premier League and may well prove to be a great asset to our squad. However, if we had bought him outright and my premonitions were not to come true, we would be in all too familiar position: Another player, proven to be unsuccessful with a big price tag and a big wage waiting to be binned off for a small fee and at great expense.

Some fans I spoke to said that paying for Sahin on loan was a bad deal when we signed him. If he’s good, the theory was that Madrid would ask for more money, other teams would be interested and we could lose him all together.

I was of a much more pragmatic approach. My reason for it being a good deal was threefold.

Firstly, if his performances were outstanding, then our team would do better and he could help us deliver top 4 and a berth in the Champions League. Consequently, we would be a more attractive proposition and he would probably prefer to stay at a club where he is doing well than risk moving somewhere else, what with his galling Madrid experience still fresh in the memory. Equally, if we had to pay a little more, wouldn’t it be better to pay for someone who has already proven themselves in a red shirt than gamble on an unknown quantity?
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Secondly, if he was bad, we wouldn’t own him outright, could shift his wage off the club and wash our hands of another transfer that failed to deliver. We would not have to look for a buyer, take a hit on a huge fee and struggle to recoup the vast riches we had lavished to get him to L4.

Finally, if he was average to good, then his price tag wouldn’t change much and we could make an informed decision on whether he was an asset worth paying for or whether we could find an adequate replacement at a cheaper price.

This is the great advantage of the loan market and it’s why these deals make sense for Liverpool at the moment. All too often we have been burned with expensive flops and a try before we buy attitude is a good way to avoid as many costly transfer nightmares.

Of course, Falcao, Ronaldo and Messi aren’t going to be available on loan any time soon but good additions are often available for loan. The likes of Robinho, Ibrahimovic, Adebayor and Anelka have all been available on loan at points in their careers where they were already respected names. While it is accepted that the big money buys who have failed for Liverpool would not have been available on loan, that’s not to say that purchasing those individuals was a necessity. Most of those signings were risky and based on “potential” and while there is always a risk with any signings, when it comes to big money I’d much prefer to see it spent on more established players.

So while you are not likely to get other teams’ most heralded icon on loan, it’s worth being wary that one man’s icon is another man’s Veron. And with Liverpool at a stage where we cannot afford to make another big mistake, we should remember that a loan can never end in as much as a calamity for the beneficiary club. The player either works out or he doesn’t and any financial penalty for the failed experiment is minimal when compared to the colossal hits Liverpool have taken on Aquilani, probably Carroll and most likely Downing too.

There is obviously a difference between paying to buy another team’s prized possession and taking another team’s cast off on loan and obviously not all of our business can be done in loans. The point is that sometimes high quality footballers are available on loan and perhaps it is worth testing the water rather than diving in and splashing the cash.

Of course, the more pertinent question to ask is ‘how did the scouting department identify so many bad signings?’ and that is something which requires great interrogation and may well shed light on the true problems at LFC, but that is for another day.

In the meantime, sign me up for a few loan deals and let’s save up our cash for Messi et al.
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14 comments

  • dale london says:

    Actually doesn’t take too much interrogation. It was Damien Comolli.

    • Mick says:

      Damien Comolli wasn’t on the scene when we signed Aqualani, Veron, Babel, Paulsen or Konchesky. It’s a deeper rooted problem we’re having signing players of a high enough calibre that truly fit our system.

  • dale london says:

    Also, Allen is worth £15 million of anyones money, you compare the £3 million difference, but fail to take into account Mascherano was a few years ago and he’s hardly been pulling up trees at Barca. Perhaps need to bear in mind that the investment in Henderson will probably come good. Shame we cannot say the same about Cole, Carroll and Downing

  • michael says:

    Allen is not even worth 3 million , way worse than Aquilani whom we gave away . Glad we didnt pay full amount for Sahin

    • scott huyton says:

      I agree Allen n Sahin are both mush . at least Mascherano was class defensivly . Anything is better than Allen

  • macibook says:

    Javier Mascherano couldn’t pass a ball to save his life got too many cards and was a bitch that wanted out and made sure he got his way Barcelona did there bit, Messi has been playing with the same people most of his career and the team is built around him put him in another team esp. in the Prem and mark him he would be useless, watch Liverpool and Barcelona play in the EUFA when Rafa was in charge and notice how he didn’t get a touch and got the ball taken off his toes all the time.

    Messi is similar to Gretzky in Gretzky’s case it was take the killer who protects him off the team and have a group of players who are too busy playing and Gretzky bitched whined and retired.

    Remember Barcelona do not do good against epl teams they just cry more and jump all over the ground and swarm the ref.

    Man U. did not lose the EUFA they where too tired and burn’t out.

    Henderson will come good he is already showing that he needs time like Lucas needed time, same thing.

    • redrum says:

      another contender for stupid post of the year . i didnt realise we had so many moronic fans !

      • Jack The Lad says:

        You are the biggist tool ever to post on the web! Change your name to reddumb!!

        • simon says:

          He is only 2nd dumbest , Ive seen your other comments and you win dumbest idiot on the web

          I apologise if you are genuinely mentally retarted

        • redrum says:

          you must be what ? 12 or 13 years old ? i actually saw you criticising someone’s spelling on a previous post which is the lowest of the low .

      • frankie says:

        we do unfortunately ! directly above this post is another , jack the sad

    • frankie says:

      did this guy really say ‘messi would be useless ‘ ? LOL
      parents shouldn’t let 6 year olds post here

  • Gothmog says:

    Well, it’s not easy to get good players on loan, let alone players who will make a difference to a team that tries to compete with the best of the best …

    We just need to be more careful with our ressources !!

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