27 years of age, 13 international caps for France, willing to move to England, and available on a free transfer, French full back Francois Clerc seems an ideal replacement for outgoing Reds player Philipp Degen. Roy Hodgson stated today that former Swiss international Degen did not have a future at Liverpool, saying:
“We have had an amicable conversation with Philipp and he wants to play football. We won’t stand in his way and he is free to look for another club.”
So would Clerc be the right man to replace Degen? A player who has spent his entire career at Lyon, Clerc made his debut for the team in 2001. He has been present at the club throughout the team’s extraordinary successful years, winning seven league medals. Clerc however was not always first choice at the French club. Throughout his time he has battled for the number one right back role with Anthony Reveillere, and on a number of occasions has come off second best. For the 2004/05 season, he was loaned out to Toulouse, his only season spent away from Lyon, and he played seven games for the Ligue One side.
His most regular season for the team came in the 2007/08 season and made 41 appearances in all competitions, but for the last couple of seasons he has had to play second fiddle to Reveillere once again. Despite this though he was selected to play for France on a number of occasions. After playing two matches in the 2006 European Under 21 Championships, he found himself getting a shock call up from Raymond Domenech for the senior team.
After making his debut in a 5-0 win over the Faroe Islands in October 2006, he would go on to accrue a total of 13 caps as a replacement for the injured Willy Sagnol. As well as appearing regularly as a sub, he got a run of games as Domenech tried various options at right back, including Bacary Sagna, to see who could replace Sagnol.
Despite his successes at international level though, his appearances for Lyon were diminishing and he only played in eight games last season. Clerc decided to allow his contract to run down and has left Lyon on the Bosman ruling to find a new club. West Ham have been the front runners for Clerc’s signature and today the player’s agent Frederic Guerra said:
“I have spoken to three or four teams about Francois and West Ham are one of those teams. After speaking to these teams I am now waiting for their responses. There has been a strong interest in Francois as he is a free agent and he is one of the best free transfers around as he has played for France and played in the Champions League. Francois likes England and I think he would be a success in England so hopefully we can find an agreement.”
Considering the tight financial restrictions at Liverpool and the fact Degen is leaving, could Clerc be a viable solution to the reserve right back problem? Certainly there are justifiable calls to let a youngster like Martin Kelly to fulfil the role vacated by Degen, and it is definitely a viable option, but there is also the fact that an experienced full back could add depth to the team. He is very willing come to England but if we were to approach him, the spectre of playing another season on the bench may deter the French international from coming. He would certainly be attracted to regular first team football at West Ham and it may be a hard sell. Liverpool is still however a big club to turn down, no matter what role is offered to you.
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no thanks, its taiwo and or cisshoko, if not then then the portugual player contreo
no thanks to english left backs, no konchesky no crap warnock, no bridge we need quality and just because we have brought cole doesnt change a thing we still need better quality players,, fact.
Er no – we need left backs, not right backs – did you even do any research before righting this tat??? We have a lad called kelly plus darby to back up Johnson, or Carragher at a push.
We need a LB, not a RB, we have Kelly as reserve RB
Kelly is pure quality. We do not need another RB. We need a LB (Or 2)
We got Kelly and he is a great prospect. No Bridge, Konchesky, Scharner or Clerc thanks! Taiwo, Retro or Cissoko. Ta!
Is it lost on some of you that we really need 2 LBs? The start of last season we had 3 LBs and right now we have none. I’d go for both Taiwo AND Konchesky.