He maybe injured most of the time, and now 31 years of age, but Liverpool full back Fabio Aurelio still looks a class act when starting for the Reds. One of the biggest reasons why Liverpool are pursuing another left back is because of the unreliability of the Brazilian’s fitness and it is a tremendous shame that most of his career has been blighted by persistent injury problems. Aurelio himself thinks only a game a week maybe beneficial to his fitness levels:
“My problem has been the injuries and I’m aware of that but I still believe I can be better than in the past and more available. This season we have our games mostly once a week so it could be a good season for me to have a run of games and fill that gap.”
I read a stunning statistic the other day that during both his time at Liverpool and Valencia, he only averages 16 matches a season; a terrible return any which way you look at it. Still, his consummate display against Valencia in a friendly at the weekend reinforces why most Reds fan would like the player to be first choice. Everyone knows he is a quality player when fitness permits, but despite having three left backs in Aurelio, Insua and Robinson, we still feel the need to go out and search for another one.
Going by Insua’s tweets in the last couple of days, and his relegation to reserve team matches, it suggests that he doesn’t fit in to Liverpool’s plans this season. If the Argentine does leave, it would leave only Aurelio and Robinson as natural left backs, while Glen Johnson could fill in when needs must.
If Aurelio was fully fit for more than a week at a time, there would be no worries, but you only have to look back at the 2009/10 season to see how going into the season with only Aurelio as the only recognised senior left back turns out.
Why oh why can’t we keep him fit? That way we don’t NEED another back.
good article, of all the reported targets my preference would be marcel jansen
Marcell Jansen is very good, but I prefer to Erik Pieters;)
yes he can be a class act on his day, but how many of them days have we seen? hes injury prone and Rafa had the right idea to let him go.
Liverpool couldn’t build on the second place because we sold Xabi and did not replace him. Moreover the squad lacked in depth. However I agree with you re the left back issue. Even if we could loan Bridge he could make a decent job.
how many left backs do we need? if aurelio plays 16 games (his average per season apparently), robinson and johnson can play the rest. buying enrique is short sighted as it would stop robinson’s progress.