Any Way Back For On-loan Winger?

With barely 6 weeks of the Premier League season remaining, Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers will no doubt be drawing up his summer transfer plans. Barely an hour goes by when we don’t see or hear another rumour linking the club to this or that player, some more impressive than others.

That’s only one side of the transfer activity though, as Rodgers will equally have his job cut out for him in deciding which players to let go, in order to make room in his squad and to fund further forays into the market.

For those returning from loan, there is the very real prospect that they may be returning only to be moved on again to another club, either permanently or on loan again. Whilst the likes of Wisdom, Suso, Borini and Ibe will all be returning to a place in the squad as promising youngsters, there will be some such as Robinson, Reina and Assaidi will be returning to an uncertain future from either having failed to reach their potential or falling out with the manager.

For Assaidi, it is a strange situation. He’s been on loan at Stoke City all season, often receiving much more praise from Liverpool fans for his performances than he ever did during his first – and, so far, only – season at the club, whilst playing in a much-revamped Mark Hughes side.

While he hasn’t played every week, Assaidi has gotten plenty of football, much more than he would’ve at Anfield this season and his performances have made some wonder whether there is a place for him at the club still.

Much like Assaidi, Borini has been enjoying a relatively successful season at Sunderland but his age, and previous experience with Rodgers (not to mention his potential to be a long-term Italian international) means he will be welcomed back into the fold and will get more playing time next season when Liverpool have more games.

However, for Assaidi, there is a sense that he may well already have played his last game for Liverpool.

With a handful of games for Stoke and as many assists, the Moroccan winger is at a threshold in his career where he could go on to become a top player or settle into mediocrity. During his time at Liverpool, and this season with Stoke, he has shown flashes of brilliance, coupled with a real footballing intelligence but all to often he fails to make as much of an impact as he should through a lack of concentration.

This is something that can be levelled at many players but it should also be remembered that Assaidi is still only 25. Not long ago he would still have been considered for Young Player of the Year! Many players rarely hit their peaks before 27-28 but unless something drastic happens, I just can’t see Rodgers welcoming the winger back with as much gusto as he no doubt will Borini.

When Assaidi signed we were all together in not having the foggiest idea who this player was but with the YouTube clips quickly doing the rounds we all thought we’d got a bargain at barely £3.5 million but at present, he looks like barely more than a £5 million player, regardless of any improvements or great/important goals he may have scored this season.

It would be nice to welcome all of our loan players back and come back into the fold successfully but that is rarely ever the case and, while some will come back better and more experienced for their loans, sadly it’s very unlikely that we’ll be seeing Assaidi as a Liverpool player for very much longer.