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Would this young left back be welcome back?

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Two things could happen at the end of the season for Emiliano Insua. The Liverpool defender could either be sold to Galatasaray after the Turkish club take up their option to buy the player after a season long loan, or he could return to Anfield. Insua said yesterday he is looking forward to his time in Turkey:

“I could not say no to Galatasaray, which has a great history and is important in Europe and the world. I’m sure I can improve here.”

At 21 years of age, Insua still has time on his side to improve his game. He has already made 2 appearances for Argentina against Peru and Uruguay under Diego Maradona at the start of last season, and he gained experience for Liverpool playing almost the entire of the 2009/10 campaign as first choice left back under Rafa Benitez.

Justifiably criticised for his performances, Insua was invariably the weak link as the Liverpool backline faltered in a disappointing campaign. His lack of pace and positional awareness were most often highlighted as weaknesses in his game and the two failings combined can lead to some very poor defensive displays. Of course his pace will never improve but his positional play can, and like Jamie Carragher he can mask his lack of speed by having great anticipation and being in the right place at the right time to intercept opposition attacks.

His time in a lower standard competition like the Turkish league may benefit his game tremendously. Rather than being thrown in at the deep end like he was by the Reds last season, he will be allowed to grow and learn without the pressures of playing at the highest level in the Premier League. He may find his level in Turkey and perhaps he may even feel capable of playing in a higher standard league. In any case, if he does impress, surely Galatasaray will take up their option to buy the player and we will not see the Argentine again.

The question becomes though, what if he doesn’t succeed in Turkey and returns to Liverpool next season? What should we do with him then? The simple answer would be to sell him as if he is not good enough for Galatasaray, he can’t be good enough for us. It might not be as simple as that though. He may gain a wealth of experience in Turkey but can’t settle into the country’s lifestyle, or perhaps he doesn’t play a single game and is left to sit on the bench for a season. In either circumstance I think it would be considerate of Roy to give the player a chance. After all Hodgson praised both the player’s attitude and ability before attempting to sell him to Fiorentina and Genoa. At 22, he would be a year older and a year wiser, and may develop his game to a higher level.

Whatever happens, I wish the player good luck. He didn’t have the best of times while playing for Liverpool last season, and at times, the experience seemed a bit much for him. If he goes on to be a success for Galatasaray then so be it, but if he doesn’t and returns to England, although it will mostly likely spell the end of his Anfield career too, I wouldn’t deny the player a second chance if he has improved.

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14 comments

  • magnumopus says:

    I think he is most likely to thrive in Spain.

  • Antix1 says:

    For all his supposeed failings, at 21 he did a remarkable job under the circumstances, and my hat goes off to the lad for giving it his all. No harm, no foul. He has proven he has the metal to battle, and i hope he succeeds in his ebdeavours no matter were they may lay…well done lad… YNWA

  • aqua says:

    would rather use him as makeweight for turan

  • Roy says:

    Bad positional play? Must have been watching Johnson.

  • Eugene says:

    I hope he flourishes in Turkey or gets another club. However he left us too badly exposed last season and indeed in the previous season. I wish him all the best but his Liverpool career must be over.

  • Bob says:

    I thought his contract expired in July 2011 anyway?

  • yeye says:

    he can get faster, it’s just a matter of training..
    in addition, he made alot of assist last season, the problem for LFC in the future isn’t the defence, but the lack of creativity up front, so i can’t understand why Agger played left defender instead of Insua in the first couple of matches..

  • jackson says:

    He cn be a player like bale , if i m nt wrng , bcoz he has gt al qualities of speed, passing, crossing and even a good left leg, i hope he cmes to lfc nxt yr, we r 1st of all short on experienced left backs. YNWA

  • rob says:

    why have you all praised this guy and wished him well,he is without doubt one of the most useless leftbacks ever to wear a red shirt and he only got the games he did because rafa was too stubborn to utilise his squad,good riddance to what is a truly awful player,and no matter what his good points are/were they are outweighed by his bad points tenfold,agger,kelly or carra could have played that position last year and if you check our stats we conceded more goals from being attacked down the left than any other place on the pitch , emily whoooooooooo?

  • anakjin says:

    new type of 2011/12

    ………………..jones………………….

    …………skertel……..agger……………
    johnson…………………………..kochesky
    ……………….poulsen…………………
    ………banzema……………..cole……….
    gerrard
    …………..torres……doyle…………….

    i like poulsen because he show we how to challange 50-50 situation.. great tackler.. a bit slow run from monsterano.. but its ok.. stay at zone potition only..

    buy banzema at 20 mil … ( sell aquilani )

    buy doyle at 13 mil … ( x change with babel
    & next sesson we add
    insua oprate wide )

    buy one more DM to cover iff poulsen out of game

    full-def
    kelly
    cara
    aurelio
    wilson
    darby
    soto

    mid-def
    lucas
    maireles

    half-mid
    jonjo
    maxi
    kuyt
    spearing

    striker
    pacheco
    ngog
    jovanovic

    what a problems???

  • smarts says:

    If he comes back, I hope he would have gained some speed as he got tore up often by fast wingers and strikers! But I agree with Aqua! Use him for a deal involving Turan and we all will be happy!

  • stan howard says:

    insua is a useless full back who cost us dear in money and points and he wont be missed.

  • ROGUE says:

    We just seriously need “NEW OWNERS !”. hopefully by the next transfer window, Liverpool will already be in the hands of a new owner. Preferably someone who is capable of competing with Chelsea and Man United fundamentally and would bring the club back to it’s normal state. All this by right should happen BEFORE THE NEXT TRANSFER WINDOW RE-OPENS.

    Therefore, by the next transfer window Roy should have at least 55M to spend on bringing in :

    David de Gea for 3M – Young and could be Reina’s understudy like Jones. Then, we can be rid of Itandje. Looking at his performances, I can see him as the next Pepe.

    Javi Martinez for 18M – Young, has a great eye, really fast, good in the air(excellent for set-pieces), could be the next Xabi Alonso(a void that couldn’t be filled since Xabi left) and at 21 he is a heck load better than Lucas.

    Juan Mata for 14M – He’d be the solution to the lack of depth on the left-wing(something that has been missing for quite sometime now). He has the pace, the ability and a great mind . He is one talented young man. Plus he will cope well with Torres. It’d be fantastic to see
    him in play for Liverpool.

    Patrick Helmes for 20M – Forget Carlton Cole, N’gog is almost as good as him. If we want a quality striker, I would say Helmes is what we’re looking for. Torres and Helmes would be unstoppable. No defence can destruct the partnership of this two huge talents(considering he can adapt to the PL and that they can work together).

    After bringing in all the players above, we can then concentrate on offloading :

    – Charles Itandje for 0.5M

    – Sotirios Kyrgiakos for 2M

    – Lucas Leiva for 8-10M

    ~ That’d be the end of our business in the January transfer window ~

    *SEASON 2011-12*

    To challenge for the Champions League and the Barclays Premier League, we have to sign either Fabio Coentrao / Marcelo from Real / Royston Drenthe(Preferably Fabio Coentrao).
    Therefore, we can get :

    Fabio Coentrao for 5M + Emiliano Insua – He is a superb left-back, full of pace and is capable of running pass defenders. He’s the kind of player we need at left-back. Plus for a left-back he scores more than he’s expected to. Only 22 and he plays almost as well as Patrice Evra from Manchester. A talented player he is. We can get Meireles to persuade him to sign for Liverpool.

    OR

    Marcelo for 8M + Emiliano Insua – He’s the kind of player we need at left-back. Although we already have Konchesky at left-back he isn’t as good as this young lad. (not so easy to get as Ramon Calderon once stated that “He is an important signing for us. He is a young player who will inject some freshness into the side and is part of our plan to bring younger players into the squad. We’re very happy because he’s a pearl that half of Europe wanted.”)

    OR

    Insua for Drenthe in a straight swap.

    Players who are surplus to requirements :
    Aquilani – 18-20M is what I see coming this way after what should be a successful season with the Serie A
    side Juventus.

    Degen – I would say a sale that would profit us to about 4M.

    Aurelio – I’m sure he’d like to enjoy his last years of playing football so, let him go for no less than 3M.

    ElZhar – 0.5M is the most Liverpool can get from this player.

    With Pepe in goal and both Skrtel and Agger leading the back row, leaving the right side to the English duo of Johnson and Cole and leaving Coentrao and Juan Mata to dominate the left flank. In addition, the partnership of Gerrard and Mereles in midfield would make Liverpool a very threatening side. With Torres and Helmes up front, Liverpool might just be on their way to a twentieth Prem League victory since 1990.

    As for the subs, we have Jones / De Gea, Carragher(34), Konchesky / Kelly, Javi Martinez, Maxi, Babel, Kuyt,.

  • Chris Browne says:

    I feel we should make bid for young full back bertrand who gave torres & Kuyt a run for their money when he played against us on loan reading. He on loan again at forest getting rave reviews and good eng U21. One for future.

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