Some difficult decisions are going to have to be made this summer in regards to the playing squad. Liverpool posted losses of £55m until July 2009 with £40m in interest payments. Combined with the loss of Champions League football next season which may make the financial situation even worse, it makes the changes required in terms of players this summer even more difficult. The majority of Liverpool fans will agree that sizeable changes to player personnel will be required to arrest the decline that took place during this campaign. As Alan Hansen said on Match of the Day last night, it is far harder to move from 7th back to 2nd than it is to slip from 2nd to 7th in the table, especially with the strength in depth that the Barclays Premier League now has with Aston Villa, Tottenham Hotspur and Manchester City all vying for fourth place. It will be a long way back to the top for Liverpool, and we all know investment is required to ensure that this season is a blip and nothing else.
As I said in a previous article, Tottenham’s achievement of getting fourth place ahead of Manchester City has bought us a bit of time, a stay of execution if you will. If Man City had taken the Champions League place, they could have been well out of sight by the end of next season with both their unparalleled financial clout and their attraction to top players for being involved in Europe’s premier competition. With this not being the case though, it gives the Reds time to regroup, although not a great deal, for Spurs could also strengthen their squad beyond our means with their Champions League place secure. So what can Liverpool do to avert their decline without new investors coming this summer?
It is a quandary that Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez is currently mulling over. He knows to keep up with the competition, Liverpool need to strengthen and that he will need funds from player sales to do this. The sales of some high profile players will be needed, and as both Martin Broughton and Rafa have stated that Torres and Gerrard don’t need to be sold, significant transfer funds must be acquired from somewhere else. One of the most sizeable assets that Liverpool have is Alberto Aquilani.
Aqua has had a difficult time of it since returning from a long term ankle injury in November and it is taken him most of the season to adapt to the requirements of the Premier League. We have seen flashes of what he can do this season, such as his best performance of the campaign against Atletico Madrid, but with finances as tight as they are, would it be best to cash in on our signing and invest it in rebuilding the team? What are the pros and cons to such a move?
PROS – A sizeable amount could be attained from his sale to invest in players deemed more suited to the Premier League, and who would overall be deemed equal or better additions to the squad and to Rafa Benitez’s style of play.
– Could add squad depth to the team by using funds to buy more than one player. E.g. van der Vaart for £7million and Arda Turan for £12million.
CONS – Could come into his own next season and become a star player for Liverpool. He could really add a tremendous amount to the team in terms of creativity and could be a great link up man between Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. He is also greatly admired in his native Italy and we could let go a gem of a player before he really makes his mark in his first fully fit season in England
– The replacements could prove to be of a lower standard and equally unable to adapt to the physical nature of the English league.
It is a tricky decision but they are ones that will have to be made in a summer of forced austerity if the club is not sold. What do you think about his sale?
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