Alves looks like being a definite target for Liverpool at the moment
Since John W. Henry and Fenway Sports Group took control of Liverpool Football Club in 2010, the transfer policy has always been to acquire young talent for fairly low prices before building them into superstars.
It is hardly an original idea, having been perfected in Portugal with the likes of FC Porto and Benfica (albeit with third party assistance), while Arsene Wenger has employed a similar strategy for many years at Arsenal. Instead of spending vast wages on ageing players, they turn to the hunger of youth and their desire to succeed at the highest level.
However, whilst that is all well and good, nearly all successful teams have to possess a mix of proven talent, young stars and experienced leaders. Alan Hansen’s ‘you can’t win anything with kids’ may have been eternally ridiculed, but it is a valid point.
Brendan Rodgers has brought in a number of younger players during his time at Liverpool, such as Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Fabio Borini, Joe Allen, Luis Alberto and recently Lazar Markovic and Emre Can. Nevertheless, Rodgers does recognise the need for experience, with Kolo Toure joining last season from Manchester City and Rickie Lambert arriving from Southampton this summer.
Older players usually come with higher wages, but lower transfer fees. Signing them onto one year contracts with the option of further years should be the desirable way forward, allowing a period of time to assess whether they can still cut it for a club like Liverpool. If they can, then the contract becomes longer.
There are a multitude of experienced stars who could still have something to offer the Reds as they embark on another title assault this season.
[ffc-gallery]Click here to take a look at the over 30s that could benefit Liverpool.[/ffc-gallery]
