All-Aboard to Moscow?
It is highly likely that Rafa will again have to raise his own funds in the summer transfer window if he is going to have the advantage of bringing fresh faces into the club. With Liverpool in a vast amount of debt and with warring owners Tom Hicks and George Gillett still not in a position to sell the club, Rafa may again have to pick the bones of what is already a paper-thin squad in terms of suitable back-up in all area’s of the pitch. Here I take a look at which three Liverpool players should be shown the door in order for Rafa to generate the cash he so desperately needs.
1) Albert Riera – Needs little or no explanation as to why the Spanish winger should be shown the Anfield exit door. His comments describing Liverpool as ‘’a sinking ship’’ should have been kept to himself, in order to save his own football career if nothing else. The Spaniard was signed from Espanyol in the summer of 2008 for £8m. Riera may want to look at his own performances as one of the factors in why Liverpool’s ship may have sailed in what has been a turbulent season. Riera enjoyed a good end to the last campaign playing an integral part in Liverpool’s title push scoring a wonderful goal against Aston Villa but certainly that alone does not do any justice to the £8m that was spent on him. Look’s destined for a summer move to Russia. Let’s pray Riera’s ship does not sink on his journey to Russia.
2) Lucas Leiva – This choice may prove a little more controversial than what it might have been six months ago. The Brazilian has been the victim of frequent abuse by some Liverpool fans who have savaged the midfielder for not being good enough. ‘’Ultra defensive’’ might be the most commonly used phrase when it comes to describing the Brazilian. He has not helped himself with his frequent sideways passing and plays a very similar role to Javier Mascherano. Lucas however has shown that when allowed the opportunity to get forward, he can do a job which he has proved in the Europa League games against Lille and Benfica where his bursting runs resulted in both a penalty and a goal for himself. It raises the question as to whether the manager has hindered the midfielder’s progress by playing him in the wrong position. Never the less the Brazilian has had long enough to shine and his time may well be up.
3) Alberto Aquilani – There is no two ways about the validity behind this choice. Aquilani has been a total waste of the £20m that was spent on him and he has simply not done enough during his time at the club to make any Liverpool fan believe he is as good as he were made to believe. The Italian has been plagued by recurrent injuries, and when its not injuries its viruses. On the few occasions that the midfielder has played during this campaign, he has looked way out of his depth and looks like he is struggling with the pace of the English game. Was seen as the player to fill the void left by Xabi Alonso who left to join Real Madrid but judging by his first season in England – and I for one hope it may be his last, Rafa may not find ample excuses to let the £20m flop walk out of the Anfield exit door.
Aquilani hasn’t cost £20m, we bought him for £5m, plus add ons. He certainly hasn’t done any worse than Owen Hargreaves (£17m), but where’s the criticism of him and Alex Ferguson?
Plus, we sold Alonso for £30m cash! That’s a £20m profit. So where did the money go? Aquiliani was probably “buy him or buy no-one”.
Getting rid of Lucas would be a waste, he’s a good squad player.
Got to agree with John Taylor here! The three players Liverepool need to get rid of are. Aurelio (too injury prone), Beneyoun (30 \nd flatters to deceive)and of course Riera (knob).
Lucas is a good squad player and Aquilani has never had a chance! Next season for him.
Riera’s departure is a no-brainer. Do not agree with the other two. Lucas has improved alot and is a good squad player. If Mascherano is injured or we are short he can do a solid job for us. He work’s hard, gets stuck in and has shown signs he can get forward IF the manager asks him to do so. To label him ultra defensive is misguided. It’s Rafa who is ultra-defensive not Lucas. Players do what they are asked to do. Did you read what Arbeloa said earlier in the week?
I fail to see the point of letting Aquilani go. He’s had no pre-season and no chance to bed himself in. Rafa has not trusted him to play most of the time and he’s had no real chance to establish himself. We lack creative spark so why ditch somebody who may have well have something to offer and could play up with Torres. This would free up Gerrard to add more creativity to the midfield something which is also lacking. Selling Aquilani not would also be bad financial business at a time when we have little or no money in any case.
Babel has had more than enough time to prove himself and he should be on your shown the door list along with Insua who plainly can’t defend and has little pace. I like Aurelio but he is so injury prone he’s not worth keeping (his contract is up so this problem is easily solved in any case). I also feel there are questions marks about Degen, Plessis and El Zhar who are taking up squad places which other youngsters could take advantage of.
Actually John, Glen Johnson cost us £5m. Aquilani cost us £17.5 million to be exact. different clauses means it might go to £20 mill.
Steven Gerrard has played worse than 2 of the players you’ve mentioned there.
dirk kuyt, babel should be sold, along with reira, insua, deggen, plessis, lucas, el zhar, none of thease are good enough, and never will be bring in silva, manta from valencia, and a striker plus a decent winger..
Stian you’re wrong, Aquilani cost us £5 mill and could go up depending on appearances and the club’s success, Johnson cost around £17.5 mill.
I’d keep Aquilani and Lucas, get rid of Riera, Degen, Insua and Benayoun.
Bring in a left back, use Pacheco alot more, buy Arda Turan, use Darby and Kelly as back up for Johnson.
We should sell……Riera, Kuyt, Lucas, Insua, Ngog, Degen, Plessis, El Zhar, Aurelio and Babel.
No arguing, just do it
True. The one that i´m pissed off about is Aquilani, because he cousted so much money…. And i add Lucas. i´m one of the people that believe he can play, but he just doesn´t work for LFC. And theres someones that are going to say But he scored against Benfica and stuff…But he did that afeter i think 11 months…Sooo he can leave right now….
Apart from carr,Gerrard and torres, I see no problem with selling any of the others as long as we get in better players than the ones we sell.
Unfortunately we have discussed here who have to sell. Rafa at this time thinking only about money. Trouble at the club and a huge mess. I’m sorry to see fall through dreams. All we can only hope for a miracle, can someone very rich and not greedy people will buy the club. And of course that person must be a fan of this club. Unfortunately this is only a dream. The reality on the turnover is very bleak.
Reira, 100% agree, his attitude and greed leave us with no choice.
Lucas, I don’t this he’s world class, but he’s clearly being played out of position. 4 games to go, why not pay him 10 yds further up the pitch to test his distribution from an attacking perspective. He’s not too much of a drain financially and he’s a runner. There are worse/more crocked/less committed players than him
Aqua, come on, the guy hasn’t had a chance. Selling him makes no sense. We’d probably struggle to get £10m for him, a massive loss, unless he plays solidly for a while. I thought he played well against Fulham, not afraid to have a pop at goal either. With Gerard in the hole he makes a decent playmaking option.
How about:
Babel, he’s useless. Fast, but the ball just bounces off him. He’s got no vision, his sense of perspective is lacking. Should have taken the £9m from Birmingham and ran.
Torres, world class, no question he’s an absolute winner when he’s fit. But, he spends too much time in the press and in the sick room. If Man city come in with an £80/100m offer we should sell him and buy 3 or 4 internationals for the same money. Sorry, but this is a fact.
Gerrard, similar situation. If we get offered £40m for him, at his age it’d be a proper deal and he looks like he’s lost a yard this season. Very few moments of him carrying the team this year. Just a thought.
If the Torres and Gerrard comments sit uncomfortably,as they do for me, question the validiy of this blog. Liverpool fc are NOT a selling club, never have been. The key to revival is investment, not shifting a few crap players. The club is rotten at it’s core.
Are you serious in telling that we should sell Aqua? This is how you do business and play football is it? Buy somebody for 20M. Keep him on the bench and sell for 5-10 M in the next season…Great … Keep going..
David,
I could not agree more regarding Riera, but suggesting that Liverpool ship out two key midfield players is absurd.
Aquilani has shown his quality whenever given the opportunity – and Lucas is developing fast into an integral cog in the Liverpool machine. The problem is our weakness on the flanks and on the striking front, but weakening central midfield and shipping-out a talented playmaker like Alberto Aquilani is not the right way for us to raise funds for new players.
how about just getting rid of rafa and letting a frsh new manager (mourinho) come in and make the decisions on te dead wood at the club …..just a thought
Regarding the other players mentioned in the comments above, I can only see Degen and Plessis as superfluous, the former on the basis of his performances so far and the latter in view of Rafa choosing to give him no playtime (which must have its reasons).
Insua must improve on his positioning to become a better defender, but he has time on his side. Ngog will only get better and, while no Torres, should develop into a key forward for Liverpool in years to come. I have liked El Zhar when I have seen him play, although he is not yet first team standard. Kelly and Pacheco are perhaps the young players I like most from the reserves – and I am sure we will be seeing a lot of them in the seasons to come. Not sure about Darby and Spearing I’m afraid, although I am hopeful that they can make the grade.
As for Aurelio, he is unfortunately extremely injury prone but a lovely, technical player when on form. I hope we can keep him on a largely pay-as-you-play basis.
I would never sell Kyut. Hard-working, a big-game player, never gives up and is as strong as a bull and almost never injured. He is perhaps the antithesis of Torres, but a great team needs both kinds of players to win cups and championships.
As for calls to sell Gerrard and Torres, it would be akin to getting rid of the Liver bird from our coat of arms.
Teams like Liverpool need great players who can be their talismen, like Giggs at Man.U. and Dalglish in the Liverpool of old.
we should sell Itandje, Degan,Krygiakos, Insua, Aurelio, Lucas, Plessis, EL Zhar, Riera, Bennayoun, Ngog and Kuyt.
Aquilani will be a hit next season and for many seasons in future,he is an offensive player who needs to be playing with more offensive players of his calibre quality.
we need to bring in some more youth,quality,class ,creative,flair,pace,speed into the current squad/side.
If we get new investment in, we need a huge clear out and to go on a big spending spree:
we need to bring in: GK:Joe Hart of Man City
RB:Micah Richards of Man City
LB:Taiwo of Marseille
LB:Cissokho of Lyon
DM:Sissoko of Juventus or Flamini Of A.C Milan
AM:David Silva of Valencia
AM:Stephen Ireland Of Man City
RW:Jesus Navas Of Seville
LW:Diego Capel Of Seville
FD:Lukas Podolski Of Cologne
FD:Lisandro Lopez Of Lyon
We should try and get Benzema from real or Forlan (decent player), i agree jesus navas should be a target, david silva good as well but i think their main aim should be to land david villa. i agree, riera must go and lucas shud too, but aquilani, no way man, hes a very good player wen deployed correctly
John taylor covered it for me!