Liverpool have completed the signing of Danny Wilson from Rangers. The 19 year-old centre back joined for £2 million, which may rise to £5 million based on appearances. Wilson is Liverpool’s fourth summer signing, after Milan Jovanovic, Jonjo Shelvey and Joe Cole.
While I am all for bringing in young players to develop, is this really the kind of signing we should be making right now? Centre back is one of the few positions where Liverpool have real strength in depth, with Jamie Carragher, Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Sotirios Kyrgiakos to choose from, with Martin Kelly and Daniel Ayala waiting to break into the first team.
With Emiliano Insua likely to leave for Fiorentina, the Reds will be left with no senior left back. Liverpool’s first competitive game is a week from now, and it will be tough to get one in before then. The club’s financial problems have been well documented, and even though it is only an initial £2 million, when we apparently cannot match Stoke City’s bid for a potential signing, shouldn’t we be making sure we have the players we need before supplementing the squad with youngsters? As well as this, Wilson is somewhat of an unknown quantity. He only made his professional debut last year, and with all due respect to the Scottish Premier League, it isn’t exactly the strongest league in the world, and there is a huge gulf in class between the SPL and its English counterpart. One could even argue that the Championship is a step up in quality from the Scottish top flight, and Wilson may find himself out of his depth.
On the other hand, Wilson has shown he may have the potential to be a great addition to the squad. He won both the Scottish FWA Young Player of the Year and the Scottish PFA Young Player of the Year awards, and at £2 million he could prove to be an absolute steal. He is very young and has plenty of time to develop, but I’m not sure we should be planning for the future while we have so many problems in the present.
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
Do you actually follow football or just post tripe for amusement whilst avidly supporting New Malden in the Surrey A Netball League?
Why is it that everyboby seems to be picking out the negatives in all the liverpool signings lately..Joe Cole a risk because of past injuries etc….Either they are all unproven, past their sell by date or prone to injury…Prime example is the crap written above…You were so intent on running the signing down in the first part that you lost the run of yourself in the end by admitting he could, after all be a steal…Make up your mind you fool…
if kyrgiakos can play in the EPL, this lad most certainly can.
Truely pleaseing to see all pool fans being positive! And signings like Wilson are what we have been lacking, i hope what ever first choice LB we decide to aquire we then go on to purchase a young english LB out of either Joe Mattock or Nathaniel Clyne to continue in the vein of signing Quality experience and young talent with a bright future.
YNWA!!
this kid can play left back as a celtic/liverpool fan i know he can play and as barney rubble said he may be put at left back before centre cos if you lose the ball on the wing it’s just a cross you give away but in the box it could be a goal but we need the kid from marselles the nigerian
This article is utter garbage…he is a class act and an excellent prospect for the club. He also comes highly recommended by the king so its obvious to me the author is one of two things – not a follower of the beautiful game, or just a complete half-wit – I think maybe the latter!!
On one hand you are saying he is an unknown quantity then on the other hand you are saying he may have the potential to be a great addition to the squad! Make your mind up, I don’t see the point of this article as it does not make a case for either argument! At least give the lad a chance, it’s people like you who just love putting the boot in before a ball has been kicked.
what’s £2m these days in football terms? loose change!
i think this is EXACTLY the type of player we should be buying! as i’ve said before, i remember turning down an unknown quantity named cristiano ronaldo and look what happened there! why not stump up a pittance now rather than try to fight it out with the big boys when the kid is worth a fortune, i also expressed the same view when we were linked with the young norwegian petersen, if we can’t afford a gem now, then unearth and develop one!
You’re being a bit hard on the writer, guys. He’s basically asked the question, “Why did we buy a centre-back when we need a left-back?” Fair question. The answer might be just as simple: “Wilson looks too good to let anyone else get him.” And who knows? Perhaps Ayala wants to go back to Spain. Perhaps the rumours about flogging off Kyrgiakos are true.
But my point is, we don’t need to attack each other whiel discussing an issue.
Danny Wilson is a replacement for carragher and kyrgiakos. These two players won’t be around in next coming season.
Danny is here now and a great prospect for the future. Lets get Taiwo, Retro, Benega and Turan. Would still like to see Babel in his favoured position and keep Kuyt, although Huntelaar would be a good addition too!
BAD ARTICLE
You are a fool. stop wasting time writing rubbish.
We signed him because his name came out of a Christmas cracker. It has absolutely nothing to do with the scouting system thinking he may have something to offer the club.
What the hell has it got to do with you? How morose can you be?
Idiot.