REGARDLESS of any opinion towards the sacking of Tottenham manager Andre Villas-Boas, Liverpool’s stunning 5-0 win at White Hart Lane provided the final straw and the next wave of optimism regarding Liverpool’s form this season.
Expectations remain on the ground, but there are an increasing number of whispers suggesting that Liverpool could maybe begin to think beyond a target of top four and look to end a drought that has lasted for over two decades. However, there is an awful long way to go yet.
All areas of the Liverpool team will need to remain strong over the course of the season if any top four challenge is to materialise, let alone any title ambitions. Midfield is no different. Yet despite the upturn in form of the likes of Jordan Henderson and very, very recently, Joe Allen, the Reds are not blessed with masses of attacking quality from the centre of the field. Allen, Lucas and Henderson are all better in a deeper position, with Allen controlling the game with his passing and energy in the middle of the park, Lucas providing cover for the back four and Henderson sprinting all over the place and making attacking runs from deep, while captain Steven Gerrard performs a near world-class version of Allen’s job when fit.
Coutinho is the only top class player on Liverpool’s books who plays behind the strikers, or out wide, but crucially ahead of the other names mentioned above. Whilst Luis Alberto is a promising attacking midfielder, he remains short of top-flight experience. Consequently, another attacking midfielder in January to play alongside the little Brazilian would be a welcome boost to Brendan Rodgers’ squad. There are myriad of talented attacking midfielders out there, but any one of these five could make all the difference come May.
1. Javier Pastore
Bought by Paris Saint-Germain a couple of years back for nearly €40 million, the 24 year old Argentinian has been linked with a move away from the French capital as he has found it hard to cement a regular place in Laurent Blanc’s team.
Lucas Moura, Edinson Cavani, Ezequiel Lavezzi and a certain Zlatan Ibrahimovic are all ahead of Pastore in the pecking order; therefore it’s no surprise to see the likes of Arsenal, Roma and Lyon all linked with him. He is extremely gifted, with decent stats during his first full two seasons in Paris, with 24 goals and 16 assists. Perhaps not €40 million standard, but with the potential he has and the age he is at, €15-20 million is a risk worth taking.
Furthermore, even though that price seems unlikely given what P.S.G spent on the player, because of their interest in Juan Mata of Chelsea, selling Pastore to consolidate the purchase of Mata makes the deal far more likely indeed.
2. Julian Draxler
A player Brendan Rodgers went to see in Germany in a Champions League game for Schalke, Draxler is one of the hottest young midfield talent around. Linked with fellow Premier League rivals Arsenal, Manchester United and Chelsea, Draxler has the ability to become a potential future replacement for Steven Gerrard.
At just the age of 20, Draxler is one of the key men for Schalke, who themselves are gearing up for a Champions League meeting with Real Madrid, demonstrating their heightened status. However it will represent an extremely large investment, as the German has a contract until 2018 and has many big clubs chasing him. Moreover, there is no situation similar to the merry-go-round in Paris with Pastore, Mata and Chelsea. Therefore this seems less likely for Liverpool at the moment, but could happen in the summer if Liverpool do secure Champions League revenues for next season.
3. Miralem Pjanic
Linked with Manchester United, Pjanic is another young, talented attacking midfielder who differs from the two above in one major way – his club are not in the Champions League. In addition, his contract expires in 18 months so if a Champions League club came in, Roma would probably be willing to hash out a deal for Pjanic if it seems contract negotiations are getting nowhere. This deal is more suited to the summer transfer window from Liverpool’s perspective because, like the team from the Italian capital, they currently do not possess Champions League football.
However, they have a serious chance in achieving it this season in the toughest league in the world. Add in £20 million and a January deal is far from the realms of impossibility. However, given that Roma are in a similar position to Liverpool in Serie A, a summer move is still the best bet so Pjanic may not be the first option for Rodgers if he is looking to buy in January.
4. Diego
A free agent in the summer, Diego would cost peanuts if Liverpool made a move for the Brazilian in January. Despite some inconsistencies, Diego has demonstrated that he has proven talent and would fit in well with compatriot Coutinho. However, he is 29 in February and does not possess the quality of Pastore, Draxler and Pjanic. On the other hand, Diego would be massively cheaper, probably around £5m compared to the £20-40m of the others.
Potentially more of a back up to Coutinho rather than a fellow starter, Diego would still significantly strengthen Liverpool’s squad in their quest for top four or beyond.
5. Georginio Wijnaldum
A player spoken about for a long time, someone with bags of natural talent and ability, Georginio Wijnaldum has burst into prominence following his move from Feyenoord to PSV. Although admittedly in the Dutch league (where you can get a Luis Suarez or an Alfonso Alves!), the new PSV captain has scored 35 times in the last two seasons and provided 17 assist in that time as well.
With pace, trickery and lots of skills, Wijnaldum could light up the Premier League with Liverpool. Furthermore, he is only 23 and could probably be bought for around £8-12 million, representing a possible bargain like with Coutinho. However, there is stiff competition for the Dutch midfielder, with Arsenal one of the other clubs interested.
Where has fsg out gone??? We r terrible… Rogers is a joke. …. But we r top of yhe table…. If only Rafael was managing…. Pathetic joke
Last time Rafa was managing, he had pretty much lost the plot. He is devisive and tries to use the fans against the owners. ( and not just Gillette & Hicks, he has previous) FSG are doing an outstanding job and so is Rogers given his limited resources (compared to City, Chelsea, United and Spurs) Rafa had us top of the league and blew the title by 3 negative team selections that gave 3 draws after the infamous Rafa’s Rant. If you can’t get behind the lads when we’re top of the league there’s no hope for you mate!
Sarcasm clown. Read between the lines
Dont be a total mug . Just because we are on a great run , mainly due to the performances of the league’s best player , doesn’t make FSG good owners .
Open your eyes you fool . FSG are here for the profit not the glory of LFC . Where is the stadium BTW ?
Some of you people are so gullible , a few bad results everyone is rubbish….a few good results everyone is a hero . Wake up and try and see the bigger picture . Plastic fans !!!
The only fool (and not just a fool, but dumb *) here is you! “FSG is here only for the profit”? You think its a charity organisation? Ofcourse they’re business men and the profit matters! They won’t splash money that they feel they can’t recover! Plus Rodgers doesn’t have even half the funds RAFA had and he’s not doing bad! Rafa had he’s moments, but overall he wasn’t as successful as we wanted, and he put melwood into crises towards the end of his stay there! Now daglish or hudson couldn’t clean up his mess, Rodger is doing fine cleaning up his mess and u say he isn’t good enough? You’re seriously dumb and foolish!
You’re stupid… Tell me what FSG have done lately to make you think this way? What has BR done lately that makes you hate him so? He needed time to implement his system and to get his players in. Is he perfect??? not by any means but give the man time. You want instant success and that is just as stupid as your comments.
As for FSG???? They refused to let our best player leave and then gives him a bumper deal. Hopefully the release clause is $70-$80 million…. How in the world are they not doing the job? You say they are in iit for the money???? Tell me what owners aren’t in to make a profit and a big profit at… So they don’t spend like Manu, Chelsea or city – look where that gets them. As for the stadium-the city is also involved so don’t make it out that FSG are the only ones holding up the improvements…
Either stand by us and enjoy the moment or walk on ALONE!!!
You heard
Typical yank dumb ass . Get a clue.
Haha…. Right I’m a dumb ass because I support my team. I should be like you guys and be negative and not enjoy the moment? No thanks – I will continue to be “a typical yank dumb ass” and will enjoy the moment.
You boys are pathetic
I support the team , and I am enjoying the moment . But that doesn’t change the fact that we have greedy corporate yanks here to milk us for a profit. Dumb ass ‘fans’ like you are so shortsighted just thinking of the now. As bradbury said ur plastic fans , here today gone tomorrow.
Your pathetic.
Well said!
Am replying to “you heard”. Well said!
Really? Prove to me there about money. If so why the hell is suarez still here and earning 200k a week now? Idiot
Phil – I’ve been around for over 15 years so this plastic fan remark is nonsense. I’ve cheered and yelled a lot during that time and will continue to do so. I will never be a fan like you – trying to find the negatives even though we are playing well.
Good luck to you sir – I wish you well.
Thank you Bradbury and Phil . At least there are a fewlLiverpool fans with a working brain.
Angela I like your remarks.IHave supported liverpool since 1972 and we have had some fantastic times and some really bad times.First the owners saved our ass with 24 hours to go from been anything other than a lower division club . We would have dropped out of top flight football.Brendan Rogers is doing a fantastic job, got us playing fantastic football like the time when Barnes, Bearsley, Rush, aldridge was playing, he is building slowly and combining the right players.look at spurs and the money they spent for the sake of it.for god sake get behind the team top of the league no one would have thought that at the beginning of the season.
Diego is a better player than Pastore or Draxler. He has put up excellent numbers at Bremen, Juventus, and Athletico. Wages are the big problem with him, as he is the highest paid players in Germany and allegedly on 10m Euros a year.
More realistic, and also excellent options from the German league would be Firmino (Hoffenheim), Sidney Sam (Leverkusen), or Maksim (Stuttgart). They all have similar or better assist/goal per minute numbers than Salah, and they play in a much better league. They would probably also be cheaper than Salah, who gained huge notoriety mainly because of his two goals against Chelsea in the CL and is probably overrated and overvalued at this stage. IMO.
Nice post, I haven’t seen much of maksim. I’d like us to go for a different kinda of player from the German league. Granit Xhaka or Lars Bender.
Its too risky to get salah at this stage! We need to study him more! Probably for another one year! The thing though is that just like Hazard, he might become tooo expensive!
U certainly dnt watch Salah bro..
You forget. We have suso coming back next year.
We don’t need any of these players
I just want 2 know how suso can fit in 2 d midfield now,,,,I like him a lot but he is slow and not dat strong,,,,but I will still like 2 have him bak in my team,,,,,,and I think I will lov 2 see draxler too,,germans are techincal,,,,and strong,
yeah.if we need any of these players, then it should be on loan cos our Spanish magician (suso) is coming back. ynwa
Bring draxler get to champs leage fsg r winers and brendan Rogers is best in da leage whos better dan him and saurez aka no one
hi ben, where did get all this players from, there names sound like that of aliens (wijnaldum). i personally think we shouldn’t sign more than 3 players, one for midfield, wing and striking. but i know we need a total of six players namely, salah, mitroglou/remy, cabaye, m villa, (may be diego capel for the left wing). as things are now, we are most likely to sign villa nd salah in january and with suso returning i think we have enough players on the right attacking side of the pitch, suso, sterling, hendo, salah, glen, this guys can play on both sides but are more effective on the right. sometimes i keep wondering what wld ve happened if we had used the money we “practically” wasted on aspas, llori, alberto to sign a certain allien named guy from belgium (henrick ……………………). but we are top of the league and that is all that matters.
Well I only watch Diago,draxler, Salah,they re good but to me,the players we need play right there in EPL.. Get cabaye,Dembele, and babartov…u re there…YNWA
Is there any evidence of them bleeding you dry before moving on or are they being tarnished with the same G&H brush?
As a neutral I’d quite like to have your owners. The ship seems steady, hired a young manager with ambition and a pleasing style of football, kept the best player in the world, buying properties around anfield ensuring you remain at your spiritual home.
Much better than what’s going on at my team. Tottenham if your asking.
Stick to your own team mate , you obviously have no clue about LFC
Phil. There is no law about posting on another teams site.
My dad and two brothers are huge Liverpool fans so I think I know quite a lot about your team actually. Rather than being snappy, would be good for the rest of the positive fans if you would share your FSG evidence. If you have none… shut the fck up.
The troll aaron pretending to be someone else again.
Yawn .ignore this troll . Idiot
Alex b/Aaron idiot
Wow, this loser really has no life and I was initially only joking. Idiot.
How sad 🙁
I think your cracking up troll hunter. How sad 🙁
loser
everywhere you look is an Aaron… Hahahaha.
idiot.
Aaron the boring troll . Idiot
Love you too troll hunter. Merry x-mas
I suppose you’ll be seeing me Christmas eve, I’ll be coming down your chimney hahahaha. Everywhere an Aaron. Loser.
Boring buffoon.
idiot.
sweet dreams about me, you clown xx
Aaron the boring troll uses many different names to troll with on this site .
Boring idiot.
Rodgers and fsg are doing a great job. Stop being so negative
wish the three trolls , aaron , troll hunter and yana would get lost , they are three immature morons ruining these pages.
Sorry guys … let me cheers you up with positive news, we won 3 – 1 against Cardiff 🙂
What a total half-wit .
5 midfielder signings are too many for any club !
If you read A. Wenger comment recently, a team should not introduce more than 2 new players at one go. It will introduce ‘technical challenge’, huh ? I quite not understand about it. But as we learn from Spurs experience, throwing money at lots of players in one go is a BIG NO NO.
So, I think this coming transfer window, at most we should add 2 big signings to complement our existing squad. Which department we are in great URGENCY to improve ?
I think that with Henderson, Sterling and Allen starting to come good (Coutinho is superb), 1 more attacking midfielder will suffice. Then obviously the striking department needs addition. Relying on the lonely goal scorer is not convincing enough for the title challenge. When Sturridge come back from injury then we have 3 deadly strikers.
So I propose that LFC need 1 midfielder and 1 striker. 40m-50m should be good enough.
Just wondering how you can be a total half-wit? Surely that should be full-wit.
YNWA
Please remember that who ever is purchased will have to prove themselves ahead of some highly spirited team performances from the likes of Sterling Henderson and Allen. To break up that which took us an entire season to build will be shooting us in the foot. For the first time Rodgers is showing us that Liverpool can play like Barcelona. But although promising it is still early days to judge. If we can play the same game to perfection we can certainly beat Man City. Remember City were humiliated at home by Byern Munich, by the same style. We need to increase our possession to about 69% and City will forget what to do with the football when they get it. Sterling and Courtino pla a similar style., turning ordinary possession into full attack with pace and creativity then linking with Suarez to launch the final assault. Excellent! Excellent, stuff. Lets hope our guys can do the same against City.
We should buy one target striker and one experience midfielder that is all for the title.
I agree, Aspas probably loaned out January so proven goal scorer required. Along with decent DM or AM. I’d also add a left back. Cissokho will be offloaded ‘if’ we get one and Flanagan to compete with Johnson. I think Kelly is in a fight for any place in this team.
Yawn . What a boring troll .
Idiot
that’s a full twit