In all the furore over the sale of the club, Roy Hodgson has continued looking at possible new signings for Liverpool with the new season fast approaching. Yesterday it was confirmed by Roy himself that he is interested in buying Juventus defensive midfielder Christian Poulsen, while it was revealed today that the Reds have had an offer rejected for Middlesbrough’s Australian goalkeeper Brad Jones.
On the face of it, it seems a strange target to be looking at. Considering the current need is in the left back position as well as a striker who can take the pressure off Fernando Torres, the pursuit of a goalkeeper seems pretty at odds with what is currently required. Even Roy himself said yesterday there is a need to find someone who can help Torres stay injury free. He stated that one of the most important things was:
“how big a squad you’ve got to enable players to be rested when they need one and to ensure they’re not being thrown into situations all the time where really and truly they’d have been better off having a rest. If we are to proceed in the Europa League, it is going to mean an awful lot of matches, so the strength and size of our squad will be of vital importance. It doesn’t matter if you’re Fernando Torres or anybody else, to play three games a week for something like 35-40 weeks of the year is an impossible task at the level we’re playing at. The little blows and injuries take their toll.”
Considering also that Diego Cavalieri, Pepe Reina’s perennial number two, has been a regular in pre-season and against Rabotnicki, it seems even more curious as to why Roy is pursuing another keeper. The real reason behind the pursuit of Jones though is most likely because he is classed as home-grown after making his way through Middlesbrough academy at a young age.
Hodgson still needs two or three additional home-grown players to add to his 25 man squad at the end of August as otherwise he will have to rely on the youngsters to get him through the season. Cavalieri is a good keeper and has been a reliable understudy when he has been needed, but he has never made a Premier League appearance because of Reina’s great fitness, and he has to spend long stretches of the season on the bench. Due to the fact he is classed as an overseas player then, it would be logical for Roy to see Cavalieri as one of the prime candidates to sacrifice to get 25 senior players named in his Premier League squad.
So why Jones in particular? Firstly he is not English and his value will not be extortionately high like other goalkeepers of the same age and ability but are born on these shores. Jones in fact could be available relatively cheaply and he would not be a bad back up for somebody like Reina, who, fingers crossed, rarely gets injured. At 28, he also could not be said to be an inexperienced goalkeeper anymore.
He made his debut for Boro back in 2004 after transferring from Australian side Bayswater a few years earlier. As reserve keeper to Mark Schwarzer for a long time, he was allowed to go out on loan to various clubs including Shelbourne, Stockport County, Rotherham United, Blackpool and Sheffield Wednesday before taking over the reins from his mentor Schwarzer as first team goalkeeper for the teeside club back in 2008. Injuries have however hampered his time as first choice, sidelining him early in the 2008/09 season which meant he only returned to regular football in the second half of Middlesbrough’s relegation season. He also picked up another injury in pre-season last year, meaning he had to play second fiddle to Danny Coyne before the keeper let in 5 goals against West Brom.
Jones also has two caps to his name for Australia, and this along with his experience of playing in the Premier League, his age and his relative cheapness all combine with the fact he is a home-grown player, to make him a good target in Roy Hodgson’s eyes.
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It is obviously the home-grown quota. Doesn’t Gulacsi qualify for that, too? He doesn’t seem to be a bad keeper.
cavalieri must be going otherwise there is no need at all we have several very good keepers
So far very little Roy has done makes sense. Chasing a 30 year old very average Luke Young, then trying for another sub-standard Konchesky, followed by a 30 year Poulsen when younger and better targets like Defour, Flamini etc were being mentioned and now this Jones. As you rightly point out, he is not even English if quota is a consideration. Given his age, Roy can’t seem to look for anyone less than half his age. I hope this fellow too goes with Young’s fate. The priority areas still remain unattended!
Kaleem, I think I read somewhere that Jones is in the UK since he is 17 so he fits the quota.
I do not mind signing Jones but only if Cavalieri leaves otherwise it is a waste even if it is for the quota we could sign the most promising young English goalkeeper Alex Smithies for less than £2m from Huddersfield and I will be very dis-heartened if Liverpool sign Christian Poulsen, he is 30,he is very slow and he just isnt up to scratch if we sell Mascherano could we not spend about £8m of the £20+ we will get on Flamini who is much better, younger and premiership proven granted he is twice the price of Poulsen{£4m} but seriously are we really that broke and if we are then why are we wasting money on a goalkeeper.Personally I hope both deals dont go through like the Luke Young and Paul Scharner ones but mainly Poulsen.
After all that, You answered your own question. HOMEGROWN STATUS.