Liverpool’s current financial troubles have been well documented, and many players have been linked with moves away from Anfield. Yossi Benayoun has already joined Chelsea, and others look likely to follow. New manager Roy Hodgson spoke on his arrival about the possible departure of Emiliano Insua:
“I like him both as a player and on a personal level. However, talks with Fiorentina started before I got here, so I don’t know how advanced they are. I cannot say if Insua will stay at Liverpool or not. I’ll have to discuss that with the club.”
Insua’s departure could have serious ramifications if it goes through. Firstly, it would leave the club with no recognised left-back. Wigan’s Maynor Figueroa has been mentioned as the most likely replacement, but according to some members of the press, Liverpool currently cannot match the bid being put forward by Stoke City.
It also seems from Hodgson’s comments that player sales are out of his hands. With Lucas Leiva also strongly being linked with a move to Palermo, it suggests that the owners are conducting some sort of ‘fire-sale’ in order to reduce the club’s debt. While we would all love to see the debt decrease, how are we supposed to replace these players? Both are young players with a fair amount of Premier League experience, who could easily be important first team members for years to come.
Both have had their critics, but we are unlikely to find replacements for either who are cheap enough or good enough. Insua also qualifies as a ‘home-grown’ player for European competition, one of the few players at the club who does and is actually likely to get a run in the team. While people may say Hodgson should give youth a chance, which youngsters have actually shown potential to be effective in the first team?
It is vitally important that we keep Lucas and Insua. If we start breaking up the first team, we will end up with a team struggling to adjust to each other’s play. We need some stability right now, and one way of doing that is by having players who are used to playing alongside each other. They might not be world beaters, but both have shown they can perform effectively in the first team, and will hopefully be an important part of our resurgence this season.
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I completely agree mate. Completely. I expect both players will become good enough to hold down a starting place (and not just for lack of better options as with last season) in either the upcoming season or the next.
While I would keep Insua as back-up and because he qualifies as home-grown, I can understand why he is not in the clubs long-term plans. He seemed way to slow for a top side in the Prem and we were conceding a few weak goals down the left side. As for Lucas, well, I have not heard any noise coming from any member of our club stating that he may leave so I leave it there. If all rumours were right, we would have entirely new playing staff this season as almost every player was linked with a move away.
lucus is not s***e, i agree i dont want him as a first team but what do want for 6 mill, yes 6 mill thats what he cost, and for me to sell lucus unless we are then or have then the money to upgrade with out that killing our budget which by the way is a joke, Roy has 12 mill to spend and thats it. thats why liverpool never really move forward because their is always a problem with this and that, lucus is great for a sub or team player but not first team, if we want depth then aquilani, kuyt, lucus and insua would be kept for depth and to be part of the team – not first team players, also babel would be kept as would ngog and all but degen, itandge, plessies, el zhar, cavalerli but we are skint and are trying to make the team stronger but thats hard to do when we havet got the money to go out and buy like city, cheksea and utd, people forgett that utd have spent nearly 25 mill this summer on two young kids, but yet no one says a thing and yet when rafa was here it was all about how much he spent,,, its a fucking disgrace, we hardly spend at all.
Look as much as I dislike Lucas he has to stay, he’s got premiership experience & would be useful to the squad, Insua on the other hand…flog him to the highest bidder! He is far to slow & looks like he just isn’t good enough, every game he plays even against the newly promoted teams he is struggling! Why was steven warnock let go he should have been given a chance, young..British.. But no rafa wasn’t interested, the squad is poor and there is only one man to blame…..rafa!!!!!
Yo Nigel, What’s with the obvious dislike for Insua? Sure he struggled against the weeker teams in the league BUT he did fine against the bigger teams. Remember that last season he had to play over 70% of the games when he started the season as the 3rd choice behind Fabio and Dossena. Coming straight from the Reserves to the first team is hard to do and for the most part he did fine. Sure he had some horrible games but most of the time he did well. But most of the fans only remember the bad games he had, why? And what would this sale mean to the Reserve players when both Insua and Ayala can’t make the cut into the First team? And just who do you think we could buy to replace Insua? He is rumored to be on the way for 4.5m, just who do think we can afford with that pittance?
Both Insua and Lucas NEED to be kept.
I advise those screaming for Warnock to come back watch a Villa game next season. Every match he plays looks as if it’s his debut. Nervous and no skill — and he’s 29 this year!!!
Warnock is poor — who gives a s**t where he’s from he’s terrible. I’ll take Insua over him everyday of the week…
That’s the problem with some fans, if your from Liverpool/merseyside they will turn a blind eye to their mistakes. One they don’t like you they will never give that player any credit no matter how well they play.
Insua had a very good first season, yes he made mistakes but he was only behind Gerard for assists and this is a left back. No one mentions the amount of mistakes Johnson & Carragher made last season and the goals they gave away, I wonder why.
How many times did Carragher just hoof the ball upfield…. I lost count very early in the season. We sing YNWA, I wonder why we do cos we don’t believe in what it means.
Some players do need the support more than others but we just seems to support the players like Torres & Gerrard.