WITH Jamie Carragher now retired and the uncertainty concerning the futures of both Coates and Skrtel, even though Kolo Toure is arriving on free transfer on 1 July Liverpool are still looking for someone solid at the back to complement the ball-playing ability of Daniel Agger.
One of the names being whispered to fill the void is Schalke’s 21-year-old defender Kyriakos Papadopoulos.
He was born in Katerini on 23 February 1992. Papadopoulos was signed from hometown club Svoronos Katerinis by Olympiacos in July 2007. He immediately featured in several of Olympiacos’ pre-season friendlies, three league games, and three Greek Cup games.
The 2007–08 season was promising for Papadopoulos. He made his competitive debut for Olympiacos in the Greek Superleague as a substitute during a 3–1 win over Atromitos in December, thus becoming the youngest player to ever play in the Greek league at the age of 15 years and 283 days.
He also made the substitutes bench in the UEFA Champions League against Real Madrid and S.S. Lazio, and featured in several Greek Cup games. If Papadopoulos had featured in any Champions League games, he would have broken the record for the youngest player to ever compete in the competition by nearly two years.
During his time with Olympiacos, Kyriakos won two Superleague Greece titles in 2007/08 and 2008/09, two Greek Cups again in 2007/08 and 2008/09 and finally one Greek Super Cup in 2007.
His natural strength and dominance in the air led him to making nine first team league appearances before signing a long term deal at Bundesliga outfit Schalke.
He soon found himself as a first team regular under Felix Magath and the fans took to him as one of their own, and in his debut season he helped his teammates collect the DFB-Pokal and the DFL-Supercup after a penalty shootout with Ruhr Derby rivals Borussia Dortmund.
At Schalke, the supporters describe him as “verrückt” – crazy – due to his passion, always fighting for the ball and always trying to win possession. They admire his bravery but also worry that he might be a little mad.
2012/2013 Season
Papadopoulos only played 10 Bundesliga games (16 games in all competitions) before a knee injury which needed surgery cut short his season. However in those 10 games he scored one goal, and had a pass success of 89% and a whopping 83% of his duels went his way.
International Career
Papadopoulos was called for duty for the Under-19 Greek national team to participate in the 2007 UEFA European Under-19 Football Championships. He participated in all three group games against Moldova, Netherlands, and Russia, helping Greece finish top and qualify for the finals.
Papadopoulos featured at the heart of the Greek defence in the finals tournament and partnered teammate Konstantinos Lambropoulos. He was instrumental in keeping a clean sheet against the Czech Republic, as well as good performances against England and Italy. His performances attracted attention from scouts of elite teams such as Manchester United, Arsenal, and Chelsea
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The teams were impressed with the defender’s maturity in a competition in which he was the youngest player by 13 months. Despite being the youngest player in the tournament, he was also one of the 10 most talented players in Europe as considered by UEFA in their UEFA Under-19 Team of the Tournament.
He was called up to the Greek senior side by Coach Fernando Santos in June 2011, for a match against Malta. In total he has played 13 times for Greece, including the 2012 European Championships where he impressed. He’s also scored four goals for his country.
Style of Play
Papadopoulos is the type of defender that everyone dreads going toe-to-toe with. His domineering presence at the back is largely due to his beefy torso and his no nonsense style of play, but he is also surprisingly nimble with the ball at his feet as shown by his pass success.
He has remarkable positional sense for someone who has only just turned 21, and his impeccable timing and decision making abilities are two substantial reasons why he is so highly sought after. From his 37 attempted tackles in the German topflight in 2012/2013 he was successful in 36, putting proof to the pudding, so to speak.
Due to his brute strength and bullish frame he sometimes commits niggly fouls. However, the more games he plays at the top level the more it will benefit him in the capacity.
It is also worth noting that across the last two Bundesliga seasons, the 21-year-old committed 2.13 fouls-per-game, significantly more than many of the division’s other leading centre-backs, such as Dante (1.34), Manuel Friedrich (1.03), Neven Subotic (0.92) and Mats Hummels (0.70)
But Opta’s statistics from the same period also highlight Papadopoulos’s positive influence on Schalke and this shows why Rodgers appears so keen to sign him. In comparison with the aforementioned centre-backs, he has scored the joint-highest number of goals (3), has the second-highest tackle-success rate (84.83%), made the most clearances-per-game (6.51) and the most interceptions-per-game (3.77), with only his passing figures letting him down.
Final Thoughts
Papadopoulos’s agent, Paul Koutsoliakos, has said the player is happy to see out the remaining three years of his contract at Schalke, particularly given they have qualified for next season’s Champions League.
But privately Papadopoulos has his heart set on a switch to Liverpool, so much so that he travelled to London last month to watch their 3-1 victory at Fulham. While there, Papadopoulos also spoke to Greece team-mate and Fulham midfielder Giorgos Karagounis about life in the Premier League.
Schalke have said that they do not want to sell their star defender but with debts hanging over the club they may have to at the right price. They also appear to be planning life without their number 14 for next season after signing Felipe Santana from Borussia Dortmund.
He is the kind of player LFC need to put ‘fear’ into opposing centre-forwards.
I know many LFC fans would be happy if Papadopoulos arrived in time for the start of the 2013/2014 season. I have watched the Bundesliga for many seasons and have seen Papadopoulos grow into a quality central defender who would improve his game with age and playing week in week out.
Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG
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Nice article Katy. I’ve read these stats before and they are a fair reflection of some of his strengths / weaknesses. I hope we get him. He’s very, very vocal and driven. This interests me more than just his physical strength as Skrtel was similarly tough and strong when he arrived (and still is) but doesn’t organise others or inspire/demand others to be better or have great positional sense.
He’s just 6 foot but I don’t think fans should be worried about that as he’s powerful, with a good leap and an efficient timer of his leaps. Remember both Fabio Cannavaro and Roberto Ayala were only 5’9″!
His two main issues are that he’s a tidy passer but nothing more and his temperament. He hasn’t got a range of passing yet, but he really is a bit crazy (not in an Emlyn Hughes way but in a Scary way). If you haven’t already, see this video
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=SkLJQu-fHw8&feature=youtube_gdata_player
Yes I like Papadopoulos. What he has got which is sadly missing from most of Rodgers signings is – character . We need characters in our team esp with Jamie leaving
Emmm, writing about transfer prospects is a bit of a waste of time considering there is so many being mentioned and we really haven’t a clue as to which are even accurate. However, it’s still interesting to hear about players from someone who has seen them play. That part of the article is good.
You say—–‘privately Papadopoulos has his heart set on a switch to Liverpool’. May I ask where did you get this information? Do you have personal contacts? Also, the fact that he was at a Liverpool game does not suggest he joining Liverpool. This has happened with so many players in the past that it’s time people started to see through the misinterpretation. It could be possible that Karagounis simply invited him over to watch a PL game or he was just visiting London on the given weekend. This to me this is much more plausable when there is no hard evidence to support the ‘he likes Liverpool mantra’.
I think much of the source material comes from a very good article in the Guardian that I read, which as a quality Broadsheet tend to do their research.
http://m.guardian.co.uk/football/blog/2013/jun/04/kyriakos-papadopoulos-liverpool-schalke
But you’ll have to confirm from Katie. I don’t know if the Guardian is a primary or secondary source.
I have contacts within the game who I speak with. The guardian is a secondary source. And as I have said I have watched papa for a few seasons so know of his potential. Hope this helps.
Thanks Katie. Nice article, let’s hope we do sign papa.
Kate, what so your big contacts within the game mean what??
big deal you might know a few scouts or players or even agents, we all know people my dear… its about what information comes from knowing those people that counts….
If you are that clever you would not even feel the need to mention these very contacts!!! you also say that the guardian is a secondary source, yes your right but a source that whole of the fan base across the globe has exposure to!!!!!
I think as much as your trying to help, many fans that have some knowledge of Papa, can say he has potential whats some informative about that.
To be fair you come across as one of these stupid twitter in the know types, when really they know very little if anything at all??
Unfortunately papa is not coming. This is just speculation. Liverpool are in for llori not papa. We won’t sign 3 defenders
Ilori is only 20 so wouldn’t play 1st team initially. Toure is 32 and though will play some games, won’t play all of them. Agger & Skrtle are 27/28 and Skrtel and Coates may be sold. We’re hence very likely to get a 3rd defender in, just not sure who.
great on the button views and if more fans are like you we would be better off, great post
His eye popping red cheeks stare will make opposing forwards think twice of going against him. Reminds me of WWE(wrestling)s Sid Justice. Creepy and scary but who cares if his on our side.
nice article katie keep it up
After the window i hope we could see something like this –
REINA
JOHNSON PAPA AGGER ENRIQUE
GERRARD LUCUS MKHITARYAN
COUTINHO
LAMELA STURRIDGE