LIVERPOOL have reportedly agreed a deal for Benfica player Lorenzo Melgarejo which will see the player spend a year on loan at Anfield and, if he impresses, Brendan Rodgers has the option of signing the left-footer on a permanent basis.
Despite the majority failing to do their proper research, a number of Liverpool fans have questioned the motives behind the acquisition.
Although my suspicions are that their gripe comes from a mixture of not knowing of the players’ existence before the link to the club and the few pundits who have criticised his defensive frailties, fans are wondering what to expect.
Originally a left-sided midfielder, Melgarejo spent much of last season at left-back and struggled to cope with the transition. With Rodgers talking up the need to bring in cover for the left side of defence, it seems as though the Paraguayan fits the bill. However, nobody can be confident of the plans Rodgers has in mind.
One thing is for sure, the way in which the manager has gone about this deal is one I admire and respect.
Too often in the past Liverpool have rushed into multi-million pound transfers involving players that have turned out to be nothing more than Premier League flops. Names such as Andrea Dossena, El Hadji Diouf, Robbie Keane, Christian Poulsen, Paul Konchesky, Mark Gonzalez, Jermaine Pennant and, most notoriously, Andy Carroll came to Liverpool for sizeable fees and all finished with the same conclusion – expensive mistakes.
With those names in mind, and with hindsight a wonderful thing, wouldn’t every Liverpool fan have preferred to have seen how these particular players fared over the course of a season at the club before any substantial amounts of money were handed over for their permanent services? It certainly would have saved Liverpool Football Club a lot of money and a lot of embarrassment.
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Melgarejo is valued at approximately £7 million and, come the end of the 2013/2014 season, that price could prove to be a bargain or a travesty. Nevertheless, the difference is that the club have afforded themselves the opportunity to evaluate the situation before they are forced to pay a handsome fee for the wing-back.
The Northern Irishman has his critics but, for me, Brendan Rodgers knows how to work the transfer market superbly. So far we have seen the manager bring in the likes of Philippe Coutinho for £8.5 million and Daniel Sturridge for £12 million – a duo that could be at the forefront of any success Liverpool achieves in the next decade.
He has made his mistakes, of course, but who’s to say the likes of Joe Allen and Fabio Borini won’t, eventually, become great players? After all, the youth and potential of both these players were one of the main reasons behind their acquisitions.
Lorenzo Melgarejo may not set the Premier League alight, however, he will be given a chance to prove he can be a success. If he fails, then the club and the player move on and next summer Rodgers will target another left-sided defender.
On the other hand, if he impresses over the course of a season then the club may have unearthed yet another gem for an inferior fee.
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i want to ask has liverpool sign christian Eriksen i strongly believe ma liverpool will go far uftnder Rodgers .
How to respond to such upside down article ??? T.T
it seems like rodgers expresses an interest in any player who is linked to another club-so far he has bought both badly and well–the worry is the amount of money we are spending on average players who are not going to take us forward–kenny got into a similar scenario..rodgers has a great philosiphy on how to play the game as the swansea side have shown-but if you look at swansea under laudrup then you can see the vast difference in their play-they are excellent..it takes a certain type of player to play the possession game and sadly i dont think we are good enough in all departments of the side to do it–i would not be surprised to see shelvey prosper under laudrup,something rodgers should have achieved for us—so brendan nurture what youve got and dont bankrupt the club as nearly happened before–this is the sign of good managers
such a long winded article for mere speculation.
Lfc, should pls sign Christian Erikson in order 2 finish @ top 4
why we should nt like rogers?
cos he is sh’t.
I think Rodgers is doing a good job, keep it up!
Can’t see the point of this signing even if only on a loan. Can’t see him pushing enrique. Sending robinson on loan was sensible. Hopefully he’ll come back a better player and challenge enrique. We can then send this lorenzo chap back to portugal
Have yo seen him play last season?
Guess you didn’t read the article or your thick. It’s spelled out in plain English.
The owners are pathetic, they need to give B Rodgers £50-£80M to spend on players whether we keep Suarez or Sell him.
As we have brought in Alberto, Aspas and Mignolet, roughly for the same amount of money club generated in sales of A Carroll and J Shelvey.
Whereas even Tottenham and Chelsea who are competing for the top 3rd and 4th position with us and have much better and stronger squads than . us already have signed the likes of: Real class and quality players:
Chelsea Van Ginkel, Schurlle. Tottenham: Paulinho, Chadli and Soldado.
The owners give B Rodgers £50-£80M to spend whether we keep L Suarez or not, If Our club is to get back into Champions League, B Rodgers also needs to ship out these dead wood average hard working players this summer:
GK B Jones RB J Flanagan CB S Coates
DM J Spearing AM: D Pacheco RW/ RWF: O Assaidi
LW / LWF: S Downing FD: F Borini
These 8 players above could bring in £25-£28M on sales, that and the £50-£80M needed from the owners and these 8 class quality players would replace the 8 dead wood average players we have at club.
Four Defensive players: To strengthen and tighten up defence:
1:GK: A Mccarthy(23) Of Reading for £4-£7M to compete with Mignolet
2: CB: K Papadopolous(21) Of Schalke for £12-£15M to compete with Skrtel
3: CB: T Alderwierld(24) Of Ajax for £7-£9M to compete with Agger and Toure
4: DM: E Capoue(24) Of Toulouse for £7-£10M to compete with Lucas
Four attacking players: To bring more class, creativity, goals and quality to squad:
5: I Munian(20) Of A Bilbao for £10-£14M to compete with Alberto and Coutinho
6: J Montero(23) Of Monarcas Morelia in Mexico for £3-£7M to compete with Sterling
7: B Arfa(26) Of Newcastle for £10-£15M to compete with Aspas and IBE
8: L Muriel(23) Of Udinese for £10-£14M to compete with Sturridge and Suarez
And if Suarez is sold, Hopefully for no less than £55M or he should be kept at club.
But if he (L Suarez) is sold for £55M this summer then these other two attackers should be brought to the club:
M Reus(24) Of B Dortmund for £17-£23M
L Adriano(26) Of Shakhtar Donesk for £15-£20M
Those 8 dead wood average players out and 8 good class quality players in would bring us champions league football.
And if L Suarez is sold for £55M, then £43M
L Adriano(26) Of Shakhtar Donesk (Brazilian) Should be brought for £15-£20M AND
M Reus(24) Of B Dortmund (German) should be brought for £17-£23M
These 10 players would bring club Champions League football and an outside chance of a title if they were brought to club.
And there would be strong class quality competition for every position within squad with the 8 dead wood average players shipped out and Sale of L Suarez and the owners backed Rodgers well and those 10 players brought in. Along with B Rodgers loan signing of Melgarejo(22) Of Benfica the club and squad would prosper for Now and Future:
The class, quality competition for places in squad would look like this:
GKS: Mccarthy(23) and Mignolet (25) Competing with One another
RBS: Johnson(28), Kelly(23) and Wisdom (20) Competing with One another
LBS: Enrique(27) and Melgarejo(22) Competing with One another
DMS: Capoue(24) and Lucas(26) Competing with One another
CMS: Allen, Gerrard and Henderson Competing with One another
AMS: Alberto, Coutinho and Munian Competing with One another
RW / RWFS: Montero,Reus and Sterling
LW /LWF: Arfa,Aspas and IBE
FDS: Adriano, Muriel and Sturridge
Put down the Xbox.
Marco reus for 17 to 23 million, are you *stupid? Look how much gotze went to Bayern for. Reus is as good if not better than gotze
I like that but where are your CBs???!
You can bet your shoes FSG will not be spending that kind of money any more .All thanks to King Kenny who wasted 100 million pounds on a lot of deadwood . The only player that performed well was Suarez who himself have cost the club 18 matches banned . Now please remember we have a recruitment committee who will decide on which player comes or goes based on the manages recommendations.
Another post clearly designed to pollute and derail a thread. You’ve just paid abou 90m and brought in 8 players without adding a clear first team starter.
Give up
Rodgers transfer dealings seem to suggest that he is scared to spend money. Many opportunities to close deals with excellent targets wasted over the course of the transfer window so far! I believe he thinks that being careful with the budget may buy him more time in the job…if those are his motives.. finishing with a few more points in the league than last season because we are still a “project”… then I fear he is in the wrong job. Andre Villas Boas has spent wisely this summer and all the squads around us are improving.. We are in real danger of being left behind.
Correct he is scared to spend money because he saw what happened to the previous manager who got sacked . BR is fearful of being sacked and that is why he ha to work within the budget of 20 million pounds.
Silly biased article. Rodgers dealings in the transfer market consisted of Allen Borini assaidi and sahin – all of whom failed miserably.
Since then the transfer committee is in charge of transfers.
The reason for thst is – Rodgers is useless and not to be trusted
Dnt be naught,BR is a smart guy,when he bring in p.countinho what is ur thought toward that.Pls,mind ur speech.
Br is not smart . Is 15 millions on Allen smart ? No. He is probably our worst manager ever
Hmmmm . Bodgers or Hodgson ?? Tough choice
Hmm 20m on downing and Henderson, 35 on a giraffe…
Rodgers is totally useless . Roy has won trophies and has a wealth of experience.
You have a good point there.
“like him or not rodgers knows how to work the transfer market” really?????? sign allen 15mil, sign borini, kolo, sell shelvey 6mil, loan reina, no plans for a dm or proper center back yet….. wow…..absolutely rediculous work!!!!!!
Im with you. Br is simply awful. Not fit to manage a burger van
Then maybe u will prefer Arsene Wenger then
Hell yeah !!! Who wouldn’t ?
I think I’d prefer mike Bassett to Bodgers
Dnt be naught,BR is a smart guy,when he bring in p.countinho what is ur thought toward that.Pls,mind ur speech.
Counting and sturridge were signed by the transfer committee. Presumingly the owners realised how dangerous it was to trust the man in the summer.
Still, we have no defenders left apart from agger! Skertel is probably going on loan somewhere …. Just like Reina.
The team is incomplete. Very mixed business . Time will tell. So far, countinho is the notable success ! Sturidge needs to stay injury free to be considered a success .
Pointless article with pointless comments considering BR doesn’t choose his own transfers. It’s done by a committee using sabermetrics. He bought in Allen and Borini that’s it!
Correct
I would av preferred jackson Martinez to this costa of a guy…….. And .wat abt eriksen
Br has the best buys of the summer in terms of fees u criticizers of borini and allen for me borini is our inzaghi like it or not and for allen still has a lot of time to prove many doubters wrong like or not they dont care,me too
Your flipping mad . We have bought no top players so far this summer NONE. and Allen n Borini are total dross
Dont kill him just watch this season and see what goes on.
Empty vessel head ppk they live by claming things,br made a right move,big name like maicon > city,torres>bluez,etc is dat what u want?
Is this article a joke ? Rodgers doesnt even control transfers. He wasted 35 million last season , wasn’t that enough ?stop writing inaccurate drivel
Criticizers of Allen, I guess you were the ones drooling on his play at the start of last season. You don’t realise he’s been playing under injury?
Rubbish. Stop making idiot excuses. And no one except- Rodgers was drooling over Allen 5 yard backward passes are nothing to drool over . Open your eyes for a change
I never thought he was good enough for Liverpool fc, said it at the time as did many others, and still stick by it.