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Why Talent Isn’t Enough For Liverpool This Summer

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Ashley ColeWith 11 days until the start of the World Cup and the 2013/2014 Premier League season now just a distant memory, we find ourselves in a land filled only by transfer rumours. Each year we dig through newspapers and scroll on websites looking for a scrap of information on who’ll be our next Luis Suarez, Fernando Torres or, erm.. Iago Aspas. We grasp at these rumours as if they are being read out by Moses himself on Mount Sinai. When in reality, we know these rumours are very often the product of a bored journalist with a vivid imagination.

Now we’re back in the Champions League the number of players we have been linked with is incredible. In fact, by the end of the summer, it is predicted every male aged between 18 to 40 will have appeared in some sort of gossip column linked with a move to the reds. However, two names in particular have caught my attention. Combined they have won European cups and an array of domestic honours. They have represented their countries at the highest level. They have played with and against the best players in the world. And I for one hope there isn’t an ounce of truth in these rumours.

Who are they? Mario Balotelli and Ashley Cole.

Last season we didn’t have the best squad in the league, our strength in depth was simply not good enough. A team that has Victor Moses, Luis Alberto and Iago Aspas sitting on the bench has no right to challenge for the championship. But we did. We did because what we had was a sense of togetherness. A team spirit that no other team in the league possessed. From the reaction to the Mignolet penalty save against Stoke City to the now infamous Steven Gerrard speech after the Manchester City win, there was no doubt we where a team in unison. Rodgers had reintroduced shades of Shankly’s socialist ideology. That working together you can achieve great things. There where no egos in that Liverpool team. Nobody desperate to grab the headlines. We simply had a group of players with a shared vision. A hunger to succeed.

It is vital this summer that we sign players who fit this mould. Players who are talented, players who have proven that they can play at the top level, but who will also work tirelessly, who will give everything they’ve got for the team. We don’t want or need players who will almost certainly cause headlines. Balotelli and Cole are filled to the rim with ego. Whether it’s setting off fireworks in bathrooms or shooting youth team members at the Chelsea training ground, these two men have made the headlines for all the wrong reasons. They would be a distraction. We don’t want Steven Gerrard tip-toeing around Melwood in fear he might be attacked by a cockney with a spud gun.

If either Balotelli or Cole sign for Liverpool, I will back them ferociously. They will be given the same amount of support any player wearing our famous red shirt gets. But I don’t think they possess the right attitude it takes to fit into Rodger’s blossoming philosophy. We must focus on signing players who possess both talent and the hunger to help Liverpool Football Club once again reach the summit of English football.

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