Milan’s Klass-Jan Huntelaar has been a much maligned figure over the last couple of years, and I can’t for the life of me work out why. Huntelaar is fundamentally a goal poacher, he is not spectacular in his play but like the best strikers in the world, he knows where to be at the right time to put the ball in the back of the net. Now, after two seasons where his career has been on the slide, he has come out and stated he may have to leave AC Milan to find first team football:
“We will see what happens when I get back to Italy. But the truth is I want to play football – I don’t want to be just sitting on the bench – so we will see what happens. Of course, the Champions League is important and every player wants to play there but the most important thing for me is simply to play. That is the number one priority.”
The lack of importance he places on Champions League football suggests he would be open to a move to Liverpool. So would be bidding for Huntelaar be a good idea? In my opinion, the answer would be an unequivocal “yes.” There are certainly misgivings about Huntelaar’s game that might put off some suitors, his lack of pace means he will not been the man to rush past opposition defenders, but in any case we have Fernando Torres to do that. In the search for a much needed quality striker, we need to find somebody who offers a different option, and Huntelaar certainly fits the bill.
Good in the air, he can also bring others into play but he likes to stay up front, and won’t go searching for the ball in midfield. He is a player who will always be found in the opposition penalty box, and although he is heavily reliant on service, a team like Liverpool should be able to provide the ammunition from midfield to provide Huntelaar with chances.
His spells at Real Madrid and AC Milan were much criticised, but there are mitigating circumstances in each case. Bought by Real for €20million in January 2009, he got off to an inauspicious start after a mix up led to him being left out of Madrid’s Champions League squad. Still though, despite not always starting, he scored goals and in his 13 starts, he scored 8 goals. Circumstances led to him being sold very quickly last summer after Florentino Perez returned as president and required money to fund his expensive acquisitions. Huntelaar said of his sale:
“I scored eight goals in 13 starting matches [for Real]. I did what I could, the rest was all politics. I couldn’t influence that. It’s not fun when the new coach says: ‘you won’t even get a chance to prove your worth, we want to sell you’. It’s new people, new policies. So, this is Real’s new strategy.”
His €15million move AC Milan has also been considered a failure too. He has certainly not been a regular starter but when he has, he has still impressed. He has played out of position on the right of a front three, and has still scored 7 goals in 25 matches, with only 11 starts to his name this season. Although, his record in Holland can be dismissed because the lower level of quality in the Eredivisie, he still scored 109 league goals in his time with Heerenveen and Ajax, and he has scored 16 goals in 36 games at international level, no mean feat.
The only real stumbling block over Huntelaar’s move would be the price. Milan would want to recoup a lot of the €15m they spent on the player, but a €10m would probably suffice. With the sale of Emiliano Insua looking probable and the sale of Yossi Benayoun to Chelsea, these transfers would more than be enough to finance a move for the 26 year old international in a position that Liverpool desperately need to strengthen.
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The money from Yossi has already been spent getting rid of Benitez and getting Woy. Muppet!
10 million for Huntelaar is great business.
He is certainly a quality forward, however i would prefer us to go for a pacy forward who is naturally left sided. we may have seemed to be lacking in numbers up front, but with Kuyt likely to shift back to the forward line, and babel wishing to stake a claim to the same area of the pitch, and the arrival of jovanovic we are not as bad off as we may have been with a Manager who prefered to stick round pegs in square holes.
Lets get the right tools for the job, a young left sided FWD/Wing A.K.A Ruiz/Elia would be my preference.
With reported sales of insua, lucas ,masch, riera its impossible to say what Roy Hodgson will have to spend. I would also urge all Liverpool fans to give Roy a chance, he did not sack Rafa and im sure Rafa would sooner he did well for us than not!
Re. hern1
why does everyone in here think as soon as liverpool are linked with a unknown player that he suddenly becomes good, no one heard of Ruiz a few weeks ago but now everyone thinks he’s world class
No i am not saying he is the mutts nuts, all i am saying is his attributes are what is required I.E a player who is Left sided with pace who can play in a number of forward roles, that information is readily available on the internet, you will notice i also said Elia who is player people have heard of but has the same sort of attributes. I am giveing examples of the types of players, who based on the information at our disposal fit the bill of what i think we need. Young left sided forwards within a certain price range. Otherwise i would have said lets buy Mata, which even if we were to sell half our players we couldnt afford as they would still need to be replaced.
REINA
JOHNSON, AGGER, CARAGHER, INSUA
KUYT, GERRARD, MASCHERANO, JOVANOVIC
PACHECO
TORRES
Seems to me we lack serious width/wingers as neither Kuyt or Jovanovic are wingers (or quick).
I would push Johnson up into right midfield buy a decent left back and try and buy a pacey winger (Ashley Young?). Huntelaar would work better in a team with wingers.
These days for 15Mil Euro,you can say he’s a great deal.It’s since a year ago that i think exactly what you wrote in here,since Benitez said Ngog was enough.I’d go to bring Klass right now,without esitation.
Lon Fulbright
Get me Huntelaar, to partner Torres thats equal
CLARANDO TORRENTELAAR
With Rafa gone I prepared my self for years of mediocrity!!! YANKS OUT ASAP
I have stopped buying merchandise and wont be going to any games until the YANKS are gone!!!
jan molby said before the world cup that this guy would be a great player for liverpool, would be a cheaper option. is he any better than crouch, dont know, is he any better than most at this price, hard to say, but the bottom line is the above post, YANKS OUT, NOT BUYING ANYTHING WHILE THE CURRENT ISSUES IS STILL AS IT IS, THEY NEED TO GO, THE CLUB IS ON ITS KNEES, COULDNT BELIEVE IT WHEN MARTIN BROUGHTON EVEN SAID IN A INTERVIEW THE DAY THE NEW MANAGER WAS TOLD OF, HE SAID “WE NEEDED S MANAGER TO STEADY THE SHIP” WAHT A FUC**** DISGRACE……. YANKS OUT, NEW OWNERS NEEDED AND A SPEND OR 120 MILL NEEDED,
could do mascherano sale = van der vaart & eva banega.
eva banage is valued at around 10 mill.
van der vaart could be got for around 10 mill.
mascjerano could be sold for around 25-30 mill, say we get 27 mill for mascherano, then that leaves 7 mill left.
sell degen and reira thats close to 8 mill add the 7 thats a left back maybe cissohko from lyon.
the club said we have 10 mill kitty, thats whats doing the rounds any way, add the possible sale of plessies, el zhar, nemeth and the two keepers itandge and the brazilian 2nd choice and thats around 16 mill buy crouch or huntelaar.
reina
johnson carragher agger cissohko
banaga aquilani vdv
gerrard
torres crouch
Reina
Johnson Carra Agger Taiwo
Maxi Defour Gerrard Jovanovic
Aqualani
Torres
ideal team; WITHIN REACH I HOPE! IF NOT WE ARE FUCKED!
REINA
JOHNSON CARRA AGGER CISSOHKO
VDV.BANEGA TURAN
GERRARD
TORRES CROUCH
WHY IS THAT PRICK REIRA AT THE CLUB,,,, ITS A JOKE, HE CALLS US A SINKING SHIP AND YET HE STILL GETS TO GO ON PRE SEASON,,, JUST FUCKING SELL THE GUY,
i’ve read that hodgsons preferred tactical formation is quite a rigid 442, with one of the central midfielders being a creative type who can make the team tick (which is why d. murphy was excellent for fulham last year, as that is his position, a class act). unfortunately, for me that formation is not the formation of champions, it is the formation of mediocrity in the modern game. what i would love to see is a
reina
johnson carra agger pranjic/insua
maxi masch (or replacement) aquilani
gerrard huntelaar torres
not only would this formation bring out a fluid, expansive style of play, allowing for the kinda creative attacking football that would make wenger wet himself in delight, but it would also allow torres and gerrard to continue their lightening quick breaks that created so much for liverpool, whilst also bringing in some of the quality we have not really seen, aquilani et al. my main worry is how well torres will adopt to playing with another out and out striker, they’re not exactly complimentary of each other, with both liking to be the out and out goal scorer, who would drop deep and bring others into play (huntelaar is slower than torres, is adept at holding the ball up, but i dont know much about his ability to get into the box late, whereas torres is definitely the player you want playing off the shoulder of the last defender, not using his speed to arrive into the box after starting the move) if huntelaar is anything like van nistelrooy, who was excellent at holding the ball up, bringing people into play, and getting into the box to feed off the scraps that manure gave him, then we may very well have the deadliest front line in the premiership, and for £10m, a bargain to boot. get him in hodgson, most of this team pushed manure to the title when they had ronaldo 2 seasons ago, we really are not that far off..