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View from the Kop

I for one hope this rumour doesn’t turn out to be true

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Since the beginning of last week when we signed both Joe Cole and Danny Wilson within a day of each other, I had been anticipating a surge of more new signings to strengthen the squad, especially since Liverpool have already lost four first team players since the end of last season (not including the outbound Javier Mascherano).

My wishes haven’t come true obviously as it’s not that easy to sign players for fun in the short space of time (unless you’re Man City of course), but what is concerning me now is that we are losing too many first team players and today’s reports that Maxi Rodriguez is close to leaving Liverpool for Espanyol has left me feeling gutted to be honest.

One of the very few positives from last season was how well Maxi seemed to adapt to life in the Premiership and after a couple of understandably shaky starts he really did begin to blossom. He seemed to always be on the same wavelength as our more creative players like Gerrard and Aquilani, and I had been looking forward to seeing Joe Cole and Maxi Rodriguez on the same team sheet for Liverpool next season.

One thing that winds me up is the minority who for some reason believe Maxi isn’t a good player. One article on Maxi’s apparent transfer in the Daily Mail refers to him as a ‘midfield misfit’, and it’s this kind of journalism which takes away the credibility of some of the stories these publications produce. What makes Maxi Rodriguez a misfit? Were they watching the same games as the rest of us last season? In the second half of last year’s dreadful campaign, we actually showed decent consistency in our home league form, winning seven out of a sequence of eight. One of the reasons for this form was the intelligent play of Maxi Rodriguez, who for me really cemented his place in the squad as a first XI player.

After losing Aurelio, Benayoun and Riera, I was hoping to hear positive news about the players replacing them, yet instead we’re hearing of more departures in the shape of our two Argentine World Cup stars. With Mascherano it was a foregone conclusion that he wasn’t interested in being with us any more so I definitely won’t shed any tears for him, but this Maxi Rodriguez news has come as a real shock. I just don’t see the point in selling yet another one of our first team players this close to the start of the new season. When you consider that he’s an experienced Argentina international who started most of their World Cup games it makes it even more of a bizarre decision to allow him to leave. I don’t know what Roy’s thinking is behind this if it’s true but for him to be comfortable with losing a player of Maxi’s quality he really must have a big signing or two up his sleeve.

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36 comments

  • jim says:

    I agree, well said.
    The daily mail are writing more & more turd about LFC and should be ashamed of themselves.
    Maxi is a player we need & one who plays very well with Gerard & Torres….

  • Ged says:

    agree with you, gutted if true, guess he wants to leave

    Dont read the Mail, they evidently have an anti LFC bent, every single story about LFC has an obvious negative slant, dont understand it

  • Gorkham says:

    Aye I agree with you completely, however I read somewhere that his agent said he wasn’t leaving on ssn, however I couldn’t find the news myself..

  • Rob, Cheshire says:

    Agreed. Hopefully it’s lazy journalism. The only logical reason I could see for the club trying to sell him is to cut the wage bill not. He was our best player in April and May and he’s certainly no misfit.

  • Colie says:

    Absolutely….Maxi came on leaps and bounds towards the end of the season. I really hope this is a non-starter. He’s a class act and with him, Cole, Gerrard and Torres fit they would be a real threat for any side.

  • RedSteve says:

    I have to say that I don’t agree with your thoughts.
    Maxi is a half decent player but nothing more.
    He never really warranted the blind faith Rafa showed in him. In fact I would go so far to say it showed one of Rafa’s few weakness’s, that he did have favourites that he played without giving others the chance..

  • Zahid says:

    I was really quite happy when we signed Maxi and i think he performed well at the end of last season with a few assists and he linked up well with Torres, besides it was a good deal practicaly paid nothing for him. We should keep him you’ll see the best of him this season and now that Kuyt looks likely to leave aswell we need him, i do hope its all rumours. YNWA

    P.S. i hope we don’t sign Luke Young we don’t need him we have Kelly as back up, rather get Finnan back then get Young

  • Neil says:

    Hodgson surely isn’t stupid enough to let him go, unless he is asking for a move. He is a quality player and gives us real traditional width that Kuyt cannot. I would be very disappointed to see him go. Hodgson should try to get Cambiasso so that he has a mate at the club.

  • Matt says:

    Yep well written agree with your sentiments.

    I would suggest tho your’re deluding yourself if you’re expecting big signings. Sadly the parasites that are G&H wont provide anything substantial in terms of transfer kitty.

  • daboy says:

    Unless Roy Hodgson has plans to spend big on a winger from somewhere, i dont understand this myself.
    His performances on the right were definately better than Kuyts he is probably going too.
    My only thought may be Hodgson may have to lower the wage bill, meaning we possibly have a while before saying adios to the yanks.

  • Cam says:

    I completely agree. I read in one article that Maxi was a Liverpool misfit!?! Absolute rubbish, he was excellent in the team and we really missed him in the Europa League. I also hope that we DO NOT accept Sully Muntari in any deal for Mascherano. There are much better players out there we can get!

  • Lee says:

    Totally correct, Maxi played well towards the end of last season and is a good option. Besides selling wouldn’t bring in that much anyway so what’s the point.

    Hope Kuyt goes though, he has never been good enough.

  • Frank says:

    there seems to be a consensus that Hodgson is the man dealing in the market when he said himself that Parslow is actually doing all the business. It seems to me that banking is far more important than football and that’s the reason why a world class manager was replaced by Hodgson.

  • Frank says:

    PS Maxi was excellent last season and he adapted to the EPL vary quickly, anyone who could not see that dose not understand much about football.

  • Connor says:

    its crap, blown out of proportion by the british press, if you read the original article in mundo deportivo all it says is they want him but his wages are too much and he wants to stay at liverpool so it wont happen

  • Gavin says:

    Dont read too much into anything the Daily Mail publishes. It just seems to me that they are the advocates for Chelski. They are the only publication that seems have all the stories regarding the ‘Tussle for Torres’.

  • Martin Badger says:

    I watched most of Maxi’s games for Liverpool and for Argentina and was hugely unimpressed. He had some good matches for Athetico but he was finished and they wisely let him go. He did nothing at all for Argentina, just as he did nothing for us. But when your squad is as poor as ours – with a player as dreadful as Lucas Leiva your midfield kingpin – maybe it would have been better if he’d stayed, at least until someone useful could have been obtained to replace him.

  • Paul says:

    Don’t see the big deal, Maxi isn’t the player he was and hasn’t been for 3 or 4 years, he didn’t stand out at all in a very average looking side last season, all be it with most of our talented players missing through injury. Shift him on, save on the wages, and finally get a proper winger, young and enthusiastic like Ashley Young, the one thing we’ve been missing for years!

  • MAXI IS QUALITY. END OF

    Joint best performer with Reina in March/April last season

  • Jay says:

    average player that would be blocking the progress of our talented younger players in an area of the pitch where we desperately need inspiration.

    He undeservedly waltzed into the first team last season and I’d be happy to see him waltz back out

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