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Is Willian the right marquee signing?

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Liverpool targetBRENDAN Rodgers had of course has made four signings for the start of the season which has now begun.

But what is distinctively lacking is a marquee signing which would excite the fans and in the process send out a message to the rest of the Premier League that Liverpool are taking it serious in their quest to try and reach the top four and qualify for the Champions League.

“The great name of Liverpool as a club and the history of the club dictate that we should be in the Champions League. There’s no other measure for us.” – Brendan Rodgers.

Rodgers has seen moves for Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Atletico Madrid forward Diego Costa fail to materialize this summer with Henrik joining Borussia Dortmund and Costa signing a new contract till 2018.

Will it be third time lucky? Anzhi Makhachkala’s Willian is the latest name to be linked with a move to Anfield, with the Reds rumoured to be bidding £30 million for the Samba star.

Background

Willian Borges Da Silva was born in Ribeirão Pires, a little town in São Paulo. The 25 year old started his career with Corinthians and played with Javier Mascherano, Carlos Tevez and Nilmar during his time with Timao.

Following internal strife at the club and eventual relegation Willian signed for Shakhtar Donetsk in 2007 for €14 million joining compatriots Fernandinho, Brandao and Jadson at the Brazilian revolution in Donetsk.

During his time with the Ukrainian side he won four Ukrainian Premier League titles, three Ukrainian Cups, three Ukrainian Super Cups and one UEFA Cup. Playing out on the wing, Willian was an integral part of the Shakhtar side that won their first European silverware in 2009 after defeating Werder Bremen in the last ever UEFA Cup format final.

This January Willian joined the money revolution at Anzhi Makhachkala for a whopping €35 million, however the billionaire owner of the football club, Suleyman Kerimov, has embarked on a huge cost-cutting exercise with all of Anzhi’s squad, including Samuel Eto’o, effectively put up for sale.

Willian has played over 300 career games scoring 40 goals.

Style of play

He is?an attacking midfielder who offers strong passing and a goal threat coming in from the left hand side, occasionally he also plays as an out-and-out winger. Willian is relatively slight and small at 5-foot-8, but he has won fans for his two-footed ability, quick dribbling and occasional goal – remember the two he scored against Chelsea in the Champions League?

While researching I came across some very interesting statistics via transfermarkt.co.uk, Willian was involved in a goal (assisted or scored from) for the Russian side every 120 minutes. However his Champions League statistics make more impressive reading by being involved in a goal of every 75 minutes.

Final thoughts

The capture of Willian would represent the eye-catching signing Rodgers has been seeking to make and his ability to play on either flank behind a main striker fits in with the manager’s blueprint.

Rodgers said at the weekend after the pre-season defeat to Celtic he wanted someone to play “top left” that would enable him to move Coutinho into a No.10 role behind Sturridge.

“Every time I get the chance I watch Liverpool. They are a very important club and a lot of players would jump at the chance to play for them.

“Despite all their problems they have a great chance to get back to the top of English football again.

“I remember watching their midfielder Lucas doing an interview for Sport TV in Brazil and he was showing a camera crew around.

“He spoke so highly about Anfield and we saw that the facilities behind the scenes are fantastic.” – Willian 2012

Could Willian be the final piece in Brendan’s jigsaw for 2013/2014 season?

Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG
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I am a lifelong Liverpool supporter from Huyton Liverpool just like Stevie G and go all over the world supporting my team I go the games in my wheelchair as I suffer from Cerebral Palsy however that does not stop me having a ball cheering on the World’s Best Team.
I write a weekly column talking about various topics whether that is tactical analysis of matches, opinion pieces, looking through the archives of previous matches, former players and current articles on Brendan and the first team.
It is great being part of the first class writing team at Live4liverpool.com and bucking the trend in being the first woman to write for the site.
Follow me on Twitter @MRSSG to keep up to date with my articles. Y.N.W.A

37 comments

  • ALONGE OLASODE TOSIN says:

    i tink willian is good enough for liverpool dootball club d guy is a good midfielder. We want him @ d club.

  • Zanz Kedah says:

    Many people say that William is good player.But i still not clear about him.His skill also more advance but the finishing is not very well yet.He is type creative but so genius or briliant player to call him.Maybe the right thing is LFC not offer with high fee because BPL more togh games with faster tempo.Becarefull what players you are signing now LFC.Why try to get Leandro Damiao??He is same type as Luis Suarez,more worth player to sign this season.

  • Emmanuel says:

    Lets sign him,he his a fantastic player,and i think he will perform well for lfc

  • EZEKIEL KPAREVFA says:

    LET’S EXPEDISE ACTION TO LAND THIS GUY. HE IS A COMPLETE PLAYER.

  • Denis D says:

    The problem is now Tottenham are after him and are ahead of us in the race to sign him, what is up with FSG?

    Whereas Tottenham finished 5th , two places above us. They have spent Backed their manager well with £60M on class, quality players and now they are slowly shipping out their average or dead wood players.

    Class quality players Tottenham have brought in: Soldado, Paulinho, Chadli and Capoue.

    The average or out with old players shipped out: Huddlestone, Livermore and Parker.

    We have cleared out:
    A Carroll ( £15-£19M) to West Ham S Downing (£5-£6M) To West Ham

    J Shelvey (£5-£6M) to Swansea = £25-£31M

    Yet all we have brought in is :
    Alberto £6.7M Aspas for £7.7M Mignolet For £9M Toure For Free = £23.4M

    FSG and Ayre need to give B Rodgers some serious backing between £50-£70M to compete and invest in the playing staff

    And Rodgers should bring these 6 players before transfer window closes along with A Cissokho( Valencia ) To club

    1: CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke for £12-£15M to compete with Skrtel
    2: CB : T Alderwierld (24) Of Ajax for £7-£10M to compete with Agger and Toure
    3: DM: B Matuidi( 26) Of PSG Or M’Villa Of Rubin Kazan for £9-£12M To compete with Lucas

    4: AM: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£14M to compete with Alberto and Coutinho
    5: RWF / RW: J montero(23) Of Monarcas Moelia in Mexico for £4-£7M to compete with Sterling
    6: LWF / LW: Willian(25) Of Anzi M or B Arfa(26) Of Newcatsle for £16-£28M to compete with Aspas and IBE

    If FSG and Ayre take their fingers out of their arses we could bring in some real class and quality on par with Tottenham and really compete with them Chelsea, Arsenal for the Champions league spots 3rd and 4th all way through season. As at the moment all those clubs have more class, quality and depth in their squad than we have and apart from Arsenal the other two clubs have strengthened considerably wellto make their suqads even better than us

    If we loose battle to sign Willian to Tottenham, Then B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle should be brought to club for £16-£20M

  • ayo fash says:

    bring in willian.:::YNWA

  • Raam says:

    Not all marquee signings will guarantee success. Remember, Torres and Shevshenko at Chelsea, Robinho at City,Aqualani and Carrol at our own LFC..looking at Liverpools transfer dealings this season after the Armenian dissapointment, we can be assured LFC has a back up target or maybe even two.

  • Raam says:

    Spurs are bringing in too many players just to proove they are better than LFC. AVB is just like little boy in a candy shop. Soon he will have trouble keeping everyone happy. Spurs are just becoming another Anzhi and the Chinese club Anelka and Drogba went to play for. Saying this not just because i’m tired of Spurs( actually pissed off) but for thier own good.

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