With Luke Young expected to be bought by Liverpool, I thought it might be interesting to look at the pros and cons of such a move. I, like many Reds fans, are not too enamoured about the prospect of Young’s arrival at Merseyside but there are some practical considerations that have to be taken into account as to why the Reds have made a bid for the Aston Villa full back.
Pros – He is English – Probably the primary factor as to why Roy Hodgson has bid for Luke Young. The Premier League quota is going to cause no end of trouble for some of the league’s top clubs, including Liverpool, and if Hodgson wants to have 25 senior players available for selection by the end of August, he will have to purchase a couple of home grown players to make up the numbers. In a perfect world, I would have liked to see Roy table a bid for PSV’s Carlos Salcido. Nearly the same age and available at the same price, the Mexican international would have provided excellent cover at left back, but he would not have been home-grown.
He is adaptable – Throughout his career, Young has played mostly at right back, but in recent seasons under Martin O’Neill at Aston Villa, he has more often than not played at left back. Young has expressed his reluctance to play the position in the past but it hasn’t prevented him performing in the position when asked. With the probable impending departures of both Philipp Degen and Emiliano Insua, Hodgson is trying to get a utility player who can play a number of positions and be a sufficient back up player. Don’t forget, he is experienced too, and only last November he rejected a call up to the England squad by Fabio Capello.
Cons – He is old – In the same measure that he does possess experience though, he is still 31 and coming to the end of his career. Although no-one can doubt he is a solid performer, he is no spring chicken and won’t be making tons of mazy overlapping runs from the left hand side. He will also not be an effective crosser from the left hand side either as he is predominantly right footed. It all means that if he plays from the left hand side, he will primarily stay back and focus on his defensive duties. There will certainly be limited ambitions to get forward putting extra pressure on the left winger to provide width, and options for attacks.
He is not needed – Although we are in desperate need of a left back, no doubt one of primary attractions for Roy is the fact that he is adaptable and can play at right back. Even with the departure of Degen though, there should not really be a vacant position to fill in the right back position. Youngster Martin Kelly has demonstrated in just one match against Lyon in the Champions League last season that he is capable of being Liverpool’s reserve right back to Glen Johnson. He is just as good at going forward as he is defensively, and a move for Young would relegate Kelly back down the pecking order and holding back his progression in the team.
Which argument, the pros or the cons, do you favour?
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we got kelly, dont need him.
We don’t need him, too old too slow and most of all too expensive.
please dont be telling me liverpool are signing young to play left back, young is a average right back who would be a decent back up but theres no way he should be called a left back
Hes experienced and proven in the premier league…However it only cos hes english we want him. He cant be first choice! We need Drenthe or Bridge!
I agree with most of what you said and thats why I’m dead against this. For cover we should be giving Kelly or Darby a chance….Or simply put Agger there. This really is’nt that big a problem.
Don’t really understand this one, there’s other younger left backs about, yes costing more money, but money we should have with the sale and release of other players like Insua, Benayoun etc, at the very least we should be signing a left footed leftback who can get up and down, minimum requirement. In my eyes Insua is a better player, never had a great season last time round, excellent the season before, young, athletic, why shift him on and buy a right footed 31 year old, does not compute?!
imo he’s the cheapest player who can play lb, cb and rb who is decent. he’s decent that’s it not too bad to have on the bench/backup.
he’s experienced in the Prem and is better than our backup fullbacks of recent years (Degen, Insua, Kellu, Dossena etc). He’s a cheap short-term signing and used to sitting on the bench, so sounds like a sensible signing to me 🙂
he can stay at villa hogdson sort it out ladf dont want shite at the club
He was a target for Hodgson at Fulham. Roy needs to remember that Liverpool have higher standards than young. Hodgson still has to win over a great many supporters, signings like this won’t help his cause. I doubt if Young’s name came up in conversation with Torres – keep this embarrassment quiet!
Weve got Johnson,Kelly and Darby for right back plus Carragher and Skrtel can cover if needed and I always prefer to have a left footer at left back. I saw a headline saying Liverpool bid for Villa’s Young this morning and I was delighted but was very dissapointed when I found that it was Luke not Ashley they had bid for. It seems as though Insua’s move will not happen which I am glad because I think he needs a bit of time to develop but will be a top quality full back and in the mean time we should sign Figueroa for around £5m sell Masherano for £25m because he wants out to Inter or Barca sell Babel to AC Milan for £8.5m as they are after him.Buy Parker for £12-14m or if we are priced out then Flamini is available for around £8m and would be a good alternative.Buy Ashley Young for around £20m to replace Babel and start on the left wing with Joe Cole on the right.Sell the rest of the deadwood such as Degen,Plessis,Itandje,Nemeth,El Zhar and Ayala{I know he has potential but he is going to Real Valladolid and we wont miss him after signing Wilson} etc. and with that it would be OUT-Mascherano£25m,Aurelio-free,Benayoun£5.5m,Riera£4.5m,Babel£8.5m,San Jose£2.7m,El Zhar£1.5m,Ayala£2.5m,Nemeth£2m,Itandje Plessis and Degen are all available for £500,000 apparently.IN-Shelvey£1.7m,Wilson£2m,J.Cole-free,Jovanovic-free,Figueroa£5m,Parker/Flamini£8-14m,Young£20m, this means we make a small profit and have a much stronger squad and team and if we have any money left over I would try sign Santa Cruz or Crouch or someone like that however I dont think a striker is essential as we have Torres,Kuyt,Jovanovic,N’gog and Pacheco who has been very impressive in the Under 19 european chamionships
If he comes for 1M or less I say ok, anymore looks foolish given his age & that he is right footed. Salcido would be a better move.
JJ has made some great points but I really do feel that we should keel flyin Ryan as he can still play both wings & down the midle as a number 19 & even a number 9, We still have to unlock that rich promise that Ryan still really does have.
Parker will not be allowed to come so someone like that Lyon center mid (I forgot his name but was in the French World Cup squad!!) would be a good signing.
I am not a big Luke Young Fan BUT he IS English & can play both full back positions & we can use people like Kelly & Darby as the ‘out of the 25’ lads that are young & brought through the system that can make up the numbers.
Please don’t sell Maxi gaffer!!!
has no one noticed the last time he lined up for Villa they lost 7-1. he’s English, and not a natural left back, and 31. even for 2.5m thats a massive massive waste. Paul Koncheskey give or take a month is 2 years younger than Young, definitely a better player, naturally left sided, and actually starts for his team. and would cost roughly the same? personally i’d rather use Wilson or Kelly for backup there. then buy a better starter like Taiwo or Figueroa. if this guy starts it will spell disaster. the wingers will pick him out and destroy him.
I believe we should just focus on bringing up the youngsters and bleed them to be world class players. The club should take this season as a year to bleed and rebuild.
Just play Jack Robinson. He’s young & he’s Liverpool already. Play him & he’ll either triumph or flop. Not a penny spend.
This sounds like Roy doesn’t know how to solve the Leftback spot at all. If Luke Young is being bought as our #2 RB then it only kinda makes sense if the club is going to send Kelly out on loan for the year. But Young is NOT a Leftback! How many 1st team players do we currently have that are left-footed? Just Agger and Jovanovic. What are we doing then with another right-footed defender? I sure as hell don’t want to see Agger playing LB cause he’s our best passing CB. It only makes sense to buy a proper LB. Taiwo should be available for under 10m. He is at least 5 years younger than Luke and he’s a proper LB. Hop to it Roy.