Krisztian Nemeth has signed for Olympiakos from Liverpool for £1million subject to a medical. The Hungarian was touted as one of the Reds’ brightest young talents not so long ago, but like many young players before him, he has been deemed surplus to requirements at Anfield after a three year stay at the club. Some fans will be dismayed at his departure, others maybe indifferent, but there was no doubting that Nemeth was a talented player. Whether he had the talent to make it in the Premier League is open to debate but Roy Hodgson obviously felt it was time the young striker moved on.
After being named Hungary’s Young Player of the Year in 2006, and impressing at the European U17 Championships, Rafa Benitez was persuaded to take the player, along with Andras Simon, to Anfield. Nemeth initially impressed in the reserves and scored twice on his debut against Manchester City reserves. He would follow that up a week later by bagging a brace against Everton reserves in the mini Merseyside Derby. He finished top scorer in the 2007/08 campaign for the reserves, helping them to the title with a goal against Aston Villa to clinch the championship.
Injuries have however hampered his last two years of professional football. He spent the first half of the 2008/09 campaign injured, and he was then loaned out to Blackpool for the second half of the season only to break his cheekbone on his debut, forcing him to return early to Liverpool. To gain more first team experience, he was loaned to Greek side AEK Athens for last season. On his debut, he came on as a second half substitute to assist the only goal of the game and played every game until Christmas, scoring three goals. He was however sidelined with an ankle injury for a few months and was not available for most of Athens games in the second half of the season. He did make an impact on his return from injury though when he assisted both goals in a 2-0 win over Asteras Tripolis ensuring AEK reached the league play-offs.
Such performances impressed many in Greece and Olympiakos are set to snap up the youngster under the noses of their rivals AEK. There is no doubt that Nemeth has ability. As well as the ability to be in the right place at the right time to score goals, Nemeth also has a great deal of flair and is equally adept in providing assists for others. He loves to drop off deep and get involved in play; it allows him to find space and offer his services at feet, so he can turn defenders and make incisive through balls for team-mates. Although he does lack pace (something that could have been a deciding factor in his departure), he will get into the penalty area to be on the end of any delivery and has the ability to poach goals in the six yard box.
This is what Olympiakos has seen in the player. It is difficult to say with any certainty whether these attributes would have shone in the Premier League. Even though the Greek Super League is a good standard, it is still a bit below the standard that he would be expected to play at in the Premier League. With Fernando Torres, David Ngog, Ryan Babel and perhaps Ola Toivonen all ahead of him in the pecking order at Anfield, it really was only a matter of time before the young Hungarian departed this summer. He may not have been given much of a chance in English football, and he could prove to be a great success in Greece, but the Reds are aware of his abilities. They didn’t put a 25% sell on clause in the deal with Olympiakos for nothing. Clearly even those at Liverpool believe he will become a good player for whoever he plays for, but it was believed that he wasn’t quite good enough for the first team at Liverpool FC.
Take part in the Football Fancast Caption Competition: A Reina Rarity!
Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com
He has not been outstanding in Greece is only young but does not have the attributes needed, a good move.
excellent play of the directors, I could not have planned this, they deserve applause, guarantee minutes in a very good team in a mid-level league where you can showcase your skills and if they are like in liverpool have a 25% Pass in your favor, just brilliant
Simple answer – No we didn’t! Hope we don’t live to regret this action….
if we are putting a 25% buy on clause in the contract it tells you, we think he might come good, so why sell him ?
nemeth would score a hat full of goals if he played with steven gerrard, a bad injury and a change of reserve team manager have lost us a great prospect, this lad will sore goals anywhere, if he is handled right.
Liverpool ONLY sign John Arne Riise & Rafael Van Der Vaart. No more other players.
KEEPER:
Reina
Jones
Gulacsi
LEFT BACK:
Riise (sign him) (European Roberto carlos)
Aurelio
RIGHT BACK:
Glen Johnson
Martin Kelly
CENTRE DEFENDER:
Carragher
Agger
Skrtel
Wilson
LEFT WING:
Ryan Babel
Jovanovic
RIGHT WING:
Maxi
Rafael Van Der Vaart (sign him)
DEFENSIVE MIDFIELD:
Poulsen
Lucas
HOLDING MIDFIELD:
Aquilani (can do dangerous passing for attact)
ATTACKING MIDFIELD:
Gerrard
Joe Cole
STRIKER:
Torres
Kuyt
——————————————–
JOVA can play left winger & striker
GERRARD can play Centre midfield & attacking midfield
MAXI can play left wing & right wing
AGGER can play centre defend & Left back
BABEL can play left wing & forward
COLE can play left wing/centre midfield & behind striker
KUYT can play right wing & Striker.
YOUNG PLAYERS:
Jonjo (next gerrard)
Kelly (next vegard heggem)
Pacheco (talent youngster)
Ayala (talent youngster)
Spearing (talent youngster)
AND MORE young talent players is WAITING..…
Soooo Why Still Liverpool Want To Sign More Players?
ONLY SIGN John Arne RIISE & Rafael Van Der Vaart..
Everything Will Settle…!!!
PLEASE Roy DONT do the same mistake that benitez did before… I saw ur mistake in ur formation Vs Arsenal.
Already 20 years Im Still Waiting To See Liverpool Win EPL.
Plsss Roy..!
cole cannot play center midfield or behind the striker. he can only play wing, that’s where he should be played, seriously all we need to do is make some smart decisions and the ownership can continue to wallow in its own mess we are Liverpool we are class now lets start acting like it.
very disappointed to see one of our brightest prospects leave. i do think we’ll regret selling him.
No we didn’t give him a chance, he is a natural finisher and it is a shame. But to be fair he has been injured a fair bit over the last year or too which hasn’t helped his case.
Akash, are you a broken record or are you Riise’s agent in disguise. Give it a rest, that’s all you ever say.
Oh, and make your mind up – is it Riise and VDV only? or Riise, VDV, Remy or Owen or Defoe?
I bet you fair badly at championship manager. Also are you on any fantasy football leagues coz I would like a piece of that action.
No, Liverpool didn’t make the mistake with Nemeth.
His time in Greece was not to impresive, his transfer fee says it better than me.
Players who spend more than one season on loan rarely make it becouse the club is more interested in getting the player cheaper after an averige season than to get him better player for other team.
Even Tevez had problems being on 2-year long loan.
Nemeth can get much better but he needs to play regulary and Liverpool can not give him that.
Pacheco has the chance to make it in Liverpool’s first team one day but he needs to be given a chance, maybe loan deal for one season but the one that is picked carefully.
I really don’t believe that we gave him the slightest chance. Watching him – even a couple of years ago – in the successful reserve and youth teams, he looked liked, and played like, a young Torres; strong, quick, intelligent, with an unerring finish. I am really angry with Hodgson for letting the likes of Nemeth and Insua go and no doubt bringing in mediocre replacements like Konchesky. Don’t get me wrong, I’m not down on Roy, not at all, but he seems to be letting some of our younger foreign players(Aquilani included in that) players leave without so much as a watching them in a reserve game, so that he can fund his own buys. I notice one or two people have mentioned Pacheco being better than Nemeth too, and therefore keeping him is more important but with Pacheco hinting that he may be homesick, make no mistake in that the board will probably not think twice in flogging him back to Spain to fund a move for Zoltan Gera or somebody. Ok, Sunday morning rant over!
Nemeth was mostly injured in Greece, he played for AEK before and was then snapped up by Olympiakos. It’s like playing for Villareal and being purchased by Barcelona. He may not have ever been good enough for LFC, but 1 mill is most definitely a bargain