AS the New Year approached mid-way through last season, Liverpool’s form was up and down.
It was hard to know from one week to the next whether we’d win, lose or draw. More often than not, we tended to do all three in the course of a week!
This only meant that there was a fair bit of rotation, particularly in Europe and the early rounds of the cups and that meant the Reds’ small, young squad being stretched to its limits.
None of the youngsters (save possibly Sterling) saw more action in the first-team than Jonjo Shelvey.
The highlight of Shelvey’s season came against Young Boys, when he came off the bench to score a brace. His game-changing performance in the second-half was reminiscent of the Steven Gerrard of a few years ago, when he had a bit of extra pace and stamina.
Undoubtedly the low of his season though came barely a few days later, against Manchester United, when he lost his head and effectively, many would claim, the game. Funny though, how much he once again reminded me of a younger Steven Gerrard in his hot-headedness.
A tall, strapping young lad, Shelvey has always looked much older than his years and I believe that that is why he has always been held to higher standards than is perhaps fair. Many people still seem to forget that he is barely 21.
Sadly, Shelvey is currently being strongly linked with several smaller Premier League clubs and should he leave it would be a crying shame.
I’m not for a moment saying he’ll ever replace Gerrard, or what our captain gives us but in terms of stature, physicality and for ability to change the game with his drive and tenacity, Shelvey is the closest thing we have to a ‘new’ Gerrard.
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I don’t believe he’ll ever be as good but how many of us ever believed Gerrard would be as good as he became when he was just 21? I seem to remember him spending a fair bit of time at right back, on the right of midfield and battling with Danny Murphy around that age.
Not only that but the touted £5 million offers we’ve received for Jonjo are frankly offensive. If a full England international, with his whole career still ahead of him – not to mention quite a bit of Premier League experience – is worth so little then how can the £8.5 million mentioned for the likes of Tom Ince be anywhere near justified?
If we sell him, I’ll be very disappointed, but if we accept bids that low then I can only assume that we thoroughly enjoy being screwed because Shelvey should be worth more than that both to other clubs but more so ourselves.
Should he stay, then next season will prove to be a pivotal one for Shelvey, but selling him would be a mistake. If the issue is that he just won’t get enough games, then loan him out but this is a transfer that would very much bite us on the backside in a few years time.
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Yes bad mistake letting jonjo go. He is only 21 but no managers have any patience anymore with young players. Rodgers has joined the other ‘off the shelf’ managers . We know he is good at developing youngsters but I fear that’s gone now. I wish jonjo the best of luck and hope he develops in to a top player. Let’s hope he proves rodgers wrong
Would like to have him around and see him grow into it but reality is that opportunities will be even more limited this year. The othe reality is that tough calls need to be made when you r trying to bring in new talent. Final reality is that bigger clubs often suffer when selling fringe players due to their lack of time on the pitch and subsequent output. If he was at a smaller club and starting 30 games per year he’d probably score 10 goals a season and justify a higher fee based on his output. Realistically 6m is fair given what he’s done. Had he stayed on loan at Blackpool for a couple more years I dare say his price would have been a bit higher.
The right piece of business at the right time..
BR what a bad transfer ! Henderson 15 and Shevely 6 ? This transfer only plessed SR.Alex lol
This may prove to be the worst transfer decision made by Rodgers. Even worse than the ridiculous fees paid for Borini and Allen. Loaning him would have been the best option. He did fantastically well at Blackpool. He on countless times reminded me of a young Gerrard. At least,lfc should have put a first refusal or a buy back clause in his contract…. Sad to see him go….
ANOTHER mistake by BR. He really is messing our squad up and turning us into a mid table team full of small average nobodies
All is good and well BR shld have loan the young promising star nd watch it for the future
A year ago on the ‘being liverpool’ documentary Brenda said Shelvey ‘had all the tools to make it to the top’ and now he goes and sells him. How can anyone trust the judgement of this manager who just goes from one extreme to another. Hes a fraud just guessing on each decision he makes.
Sussed him out a long time ago.
Getting a bit fed up of these contrived pieces of Business betreen ourselves and Swansea, Rodgers, you are no longer their manager, you don’t owe them anything? as far as I know, so why give Shelvey away for a pathetic 6million, 21 yrs old, England international, we paid double for Allen, Ridiculous bit of business, once again.