At 33 years of age, you would be forgiven for thinking that Gilberto Silva would be slowly winding down his career. After departing Arsenal for Panathinaikos in 2008, it was safe to assume that Gilberto’s time as a top class player was coming to an end. Yet, his performances for Brazil at the World Cup have raised his profile once again and it has led to speculation in the Daily Mail that he could be one of Roy Hodgson’s first signings at Liverpool. So would there actually be any benefit to taking on the veteran?
The only circumstance that any such deal should be considered is if Javier Mascherano is adamant that he wants to leave the club. Even then, some of you will ask, why should the Reds replace a 26 year old in the prime of his career with a 33 year old in the twilight of his? The answer is pretty straightforward. It would free up funds to strengthen other parts of the squad.
Defensive midfield is a very important position in modern football and some of the great exponents of the position, such as Claude Makelele, Esteban Cambiasso, and even Mascherano himself, have come about in more recent times. In fact bizarrely Brazil has been one of the places where defensive midfielders have become widely used as many teams in Brazil employ a formation allowing 4 attack minded forwards and two attacking full backs to go forward at will, while the centre backs are backed up by two holding midfield players. The Brazil national team has a slight variation of this method with one striker and three attacking midfielders, but Dunga still insists on two holding players, which have regularly been Gilberto and Felipe Melo.
If Mascherano is allowed to leave for £25-30million, new manager Hodgson has already stated that the money will be made available for transfers rather than being used to service the club’s debts. The sale of Masch would give Roy the opportunity to spend money in other areas of the pitch, such as the striker, winger and left back positions where he will no doubt identify as the weak links in the team. He will also need a replacement for Mascherano though and Gilberto could be seen as a very good, although short term, replacement.
The Reds could possibly get two more years out of him while the club purchase players for more attack minded positions. According to the Mail, Panathinaikos would not stand in his way if he wanted to leave, and he is certainly a candidate that could be considered for the role. Unlike Mascherano, and other midfield enforcers, Gilberto’s game is not centred on strong challenges, it is more subtle. Anticipating and intercepting opposition attacks before they become a threat are his forte and his height in the air gives him the added edge of protecting the back from long balls. He is certainly a “win the ball and pass it to someone who can attack” sort of player, and his pass completion rate is so high because of his tendency to pass short. A useful player then and perhaps a little on the old side, but it is certainly an interesting player for us to be linked with.
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
No he wouldnt. His legs are gone and have been for a while now, he’s having a good world cup because he has melo beside him to do all the running and he just tidies up. Hodgson will only play 1 def mid so it has to be some1 that covers alot of ground
No he is to old,he might be ok to play about 10 or 15 games of the season but he would have to play out of his skin to make any sort of impact.
What we need is pace and good delivery for the right and left wing, a playmaker assuming Benayoun is leaving, a good solid left back , a back up goalkeeper again assuming Cavalieri is leaving and then maybe a tall powerful centre forward who can add a physical presence we dont really have any forwards of this type ,last but not least we need a dominant centre half who is great in the air like Hyypia was as we need this type of defender we have Krygiakos but he is not good enough to start week in week out so I would sell him and buy a centre half to partner Agger,Skrtel is a very good defender and I would keep him and Carragher as subs because Agger and/or Skrtel are always injured ,Carragher is getting too old to start every week in my opininon so sell Krygiakos and buy a centre half.Anyway in conclusion these are the type of players we need and Gilberto Silve doesnt tick any of the boxes he is a holding midfielder who has lost his legs and if Mascherano does leave he is not an adequate replacement, Lassana Diarra or Esteban Cambiasso or someone who could do that job. Gilberto Silva is not the man for Liverpool.
I guess people commenting about Gilberto have not been following the world cup at all. The man might be 33 but he has been a rock in midfield for Brazil, and to be 33 and still playing in the Brazil national team says a lot! His legs are gone ? No way, not by a long shot. If people didnt know he was 33 you would think he would be in his mid 20s. If we can get him on the cheap side I would more than welcome this addition.
To the person making the first comment, news flash Melo didnt play in the last Brazil game! And Silva was probably one of the best players on the pitch, to say that with the abundant talent in the brazil squad… well NUFF SAID!
if mascherano go… i like to take lukas or skertel at the place… of course… at the back we have johnson..cara.. agger.. kelly.. ayala..soto.. then maybe hangeland .. kjaer too positive with 12 million..