WITH the announcement of Dirk Kuyt leaving Liverpool FC, comes the end to a bit of an era.
The Dutchman signed from Feyenoord in 2006 and made his debut for the Reds in their season opener against West Ham in the 2006-07 season.
Of course his debut was overshadowed by the fact that Liverpool were meeting their FA Cup final conquests of the previous season – beating them in dramatic fashion after a wonder equaliser from Steven Gerrard and Pepe Reina’s heroics in goal during the shoot-out.
On top of that, Daniel Agger had just introduced himself at Liverpool with a wonder strike from 40 yards out to equalise at Anfield. Peter Crouch had already given Liverpool the lead and Benitez decided to introduce his new acquisition for a run about.
From the word go, Kuyt showed eagerness and determination to make a nuisance of himself. The defenders were suddenly being hassled the way they hadn’t come to expect from strikers. This was more the time when forwards were more prone to going down and claiming fouls.
Kuyt was more interested in making life difficult for the defence, and he did. Of course his first goal for the Reds came later at a home game against Newcastle United. That match will again be remembered for a different reason – Xabi Alonso’s 70 yard strike reminding you of a certain David Beckham catching out Neil O’Sullivan in the mid 90’s.
Throughout the season, he went on to score a few vital goals but more importantly, he was immediately flagged up as a tremendous hard worker. His first touch was criticised and rightly so but commentators and pundits across the board agreed his work rate made up for what he lacked in technical skills.
Later in the season, he went on to net the winning penalty to take Liverpool in to the Champions league final – where he scored Liverpool’s only goal in a frustrating 2-1 defeat against AC Milan. The next few seasons, saw the making of the real legend.
The moment Benitez decided to put him on the right wing, no one guessed he’d make it his own to the extent of letting Liverpool think of him as a right winger. His touch improved and so did his overall contributions to attack and defence.
So much so that this season, it was his trickling run through the Manchester City defence on the right side which found Craig Bellamy and Glen Johnson in the penalty box for them to work a 1-2 past the defenders and get the aggregate winner in the Carling Cup semi-final. In fact he even came on in the final to equalise with an impossible shot.
[ad_pod id=”unruly-video” align=”center”]
Many would argue, despite contributions like these, he was 31 and it’s the right time to let him go. It might be true and there may be no arguments. But it still needs to be acknowledged how much of a red heart this Dutchman was.
His commitment and passion had been, at times, compared to that Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher. Many even started calling Kuyt Mr. Liverpool alongside Stevie G.
Something like that doesn’t come in easy unless you’ve proven yourself to be an Anfield legend. He certainly will remain one, no matter what he does from here on.
Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at live4liverpool@snack-media.com
Follow us on Twitter here: @live4Liverpool and ‘Like’ us on Facebook
Kuyt will forever b missed. Always a red in heart. Thx for evrything YNWA
Blessed be upon u son of Liverpool you’ll never walk alone for the spirit of Liverpool is with u as ur name is ready written on the rock of the entire Liverpool city and the club thnx for the job done
Curious time to leave, his movement on the field was good for the pass and move style of play and a new Mgr might have actually played him in a striker position. As a fan I will always appreciate how hard he worked for the Club, some team mates who received more playing time could have learned a thing or two. Hopefully we will get a player who can come up with clutch goals the way Dirk did. Dirk was a great representative of LFC, both on and off the pitch, we should all wish him well.