RUMOURS are rife that Liverpool have nearly completed a deal [at the time of writing] to take Paraguayan left back Lorenzo Melgarejo on loan from Portuguese club Benfica with the possibility of signing him at the end of the season for €8 million.
Melgarejo started his career with 12 de Octubre and Club Olimpia in his native Paraguay. However Lorenzo is not naturally a left-back; he started out as a left winger and this is the position where he made his name.
In 2011 Independiente sold him to Benfica who instantly loaned him to Portuguese side Paços de Ferreira.
A string of exciting displays for ‘The Beavers’ on the left flank saw him score 10 goals in 29 games and finish as the club’s top scorer for the 2011/2012 season saving the club from relegation.
It was this form that made Benfica extended his contract to 2018 on improved terms and inserted a €30 million release clause into the deal. Now if are you wondering why if they gave him such a contract they are willing to allow him to leave the Estádio da Luz on loan – here is the reason:
It is apparently because “he didn’t do the business for Benfica last season.”
The manager Jorge Jesus never gave Lorenzo the chance to build on his excellent season in his natural position. He is very attacking minded but also stubborn and arrogant in his approach.
He said from the start that the now 22 year old would be his first choice left-back. This is mainly because if you cast your minds back to when Fabio Coentrão arrived at Benfica he was a left winger and Jorge Jesus converted the Portuguese international into an established fullback and one of the best in his position and it was because of this change that Real Madrid paid €30 million to take him to the Santiago Bernabéu.
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But sadly it looks like history will not be repeating itself. Melgarejo made some blunders in pre-season last year which made the fans nervous but Jesus came out and said he wanted to prove his critics wrong.
However things never went according to plan. In the opening game of the 2012/ 2013 season against Braga, the Paraguayan scored an own goal and ‘assisted’ another goal for the opposition in the 2-2 draw.
Throughout the rest of the campaign the position was the weak point as other opposing teams would automatically target Melgarejo, nevertheless his lack of composure, difficulties in dealing with positioning and lack of aggression was evident especially against stronger opposition that he did not quite have the skills to deal effectively in the role he was asked to do by the manager. By the end of the season the manager realised and dropped Lorenzo for the Portuguese Cup Final.
Tom Kundert a Portuguese football expert thinks that the skill, speed and directness of the Paraguayan’s forward runs in 2012/13, allied to a commendable incisiveness (scoring in successive home games in March) shows he remains an exciting prospect with a big future in the game. But not at left-back.
So it will be fascinating to see if the move is rubber stamped whether Melgarejo can cut the mustard so to speak and challenge Jose Enrique for the left-back position and if he gets his chance to show us fans and Brendan Rodgers that he is capable of playing in that role.
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Lets sign him first then we do talking.
Looks like a pointless signing if you ask me. I know it’s only a loan. I doubt he’s as good as enrique who isn’t the best it has to be said. I hope jack robinson is sent out on loan to get some experience. Just because he had a bad game against oldham doesn’t mean he should be written off. Still, would prefer to see this paraguayan bloke sitting on the bench and robinson playing regularly somwhere else. Better for his development
Sad day for Liverpool when we are reduced to loan signings to bolster our squad .
It is indeed a vey sad day for Liverpool to have to resort to getting new players in on loan. :rolleyes:
Whoever he is he looks like another poser and wimp.
Sigh … More loan deals for once mighty LFC.