Liverpool FC – The 2013 Summer Transfer Story So Far

As of Thursday 25th July, Liverpool’s transfer dealings have gone fairly well so far, 7 out of 10, some might say. Gone are the days when fingernail-less Liverpool supporters anxiously, endlessly wait by their phones and laptops in the hope of some – fingers crossed positive – transfer news until the very end of the summer transfer window. Brendan Rodgers has acted quickly to address one of the main concerns of the LFC squad from the 2012/13 season – squad depth.

A club the size of Liverpool shouldn’t have to rely on a 17 year old starlet in Raheem Sterling, with barely 3 substitute appearances in the Premier League to his name, to pull the weight of the team. Nor should they have to pin the outrageous burden of scoring virtually all of our goals, all of the time, onto the shoulders of Luis Suarez. But come the start of last season, that’s what we were faced with. High earners Craig Bellamy, Dirk Kuyt, Alberto Aquilani, Joe Cole, and Andy Carroll were either released, sold or loaned out, allowing the club’s bulging purse to loosen it’s proverbial belt buckle a few notches. The remaining squad was bare, lacking depth, experience and goals.

Brendan Rodgers addressed this with the very clever signing of Kolo Toure (32) from Manchester City on a free, as well as Celta Vigo-saving-star Iago Aspas (25), Sunderland stopper Simon Mignolet (25) and Sevilla youngster Luis Alberto (20) (Bleacher Report).

Martin Skrtel had a mixed season this year, and with Carragher retiring and ‘BR’ unsure of Sebastian Coates, Toure was a very astute signing in my opinion. He’s a winner, a much needed voice in the dressing room and a commanding figure out on the pitch.

The signing of Mignolet was one that pulled on my heart strings, as I knew it would inevitably lead to the departure of Pepe Reina. Even though his form has wavered in recent seasons, he’s still one of the best goalkeepers in the world in my eyes, and his distribution with the ball in unparalleled. His voice in the dressing room will be missed, along with his personality (check out multiple videos on Youtube of Reina with the Spanish squad after winning the World Cup/European Championship).

Iago Aspas’ goals and creativity (12 goals & 7 assists in 34 games last year) helped relegation-threatened Celta Vigo stay in Spain’s La Liga. As well as his creativity and attacking prowess, it’s his character that intrigues me. Plain and simple, he’s a fighter. His determination to win is clear to see, and it’s made him a favourite with the Celta Vigo fans. But sometimes this has spilled over, with Aspas receiving a 4 match ban for head-butting Deportivo’s Carlos Marchena during Celta Vigo’s 3-1 away defeat last year. As it happened in March, it could have severely harmed Celta Vigo’s battle to stay in La Liga, but he managed to keep them up in any case. Despite this, I feel his grit and will to win is exactly what we need. Like Suarez, he has this ‘edge’ which can occasionally cause trouble, but adds to his game. Characters like Suarez and Bellamy may be loved by their team’s fans and hated by others, but it helps us to relate to these players as human beings, not just football machines, and that can be a good thing.

With regards to Luis Alberto, he may be a squad player for now, but his goals for Barcelona B last year (11 goals and 17 assists in 37 games) suggest he’s definitely one to watch this year. 

So good additions to the squad, but more work needed. After the recent pre-season tour victory over Melbourne Victory, Rodgers said “It was great to make the four signings so early on but we have still got some more work to do to strengthen the team.”

Liverpool’s well-publicised pursuit of former Shakhtar Donetsk goalscoring midfielder Henrik Mkhitaryan ended in defeat as he opted to join Champions League finalists Borussia Dortmund. This is a move I am disappointed about, but not surprised by. Comparing Dortmund to ourselves, they are in the Champions League regularly, with 80,000 fans (and brilliantly vocal, supportive fans might I add) cheering their players on every week. They play an exciting brand of football with a young, hungry squad and manager. Liverpool finished 7th last year, with no hope of European football for the forthcoming season. Now of course we have an amazing history as a club. Our fans are some of, if not THE best fans in the world, the atmosphere inside Anfield is spine-tingling and with the recent additions of Sturridge and Coutinho, we are definitely a team on the rise. But I’m sure the objective readers out there can see my point.

But looking to the future, if you believe 30% of what you read in the newspapers, you’ll know that Valencia’s left back Aly Cissokho (25) will be moving on loan for £850,000 (with an option to buy for a further £3.5m) to provide competition with Jose Enrique at left back. Another potentially shrewd acquisition. Also, Ajax’s Danish prodigy Christian Eriksen (21) could be heading to Anfield, with former winger Ryan Babel hoping the move will go through. He said on Twitter “4 the LFC fans who have questions about Eriksen, I’ve gave him enough information about the club during past season.. so he understands LFC. In my opinion its LFC who have to make the real effort to get him, then I’m confident for a good ending. #LFC”. AC Milan are believed to be interested too, but hopefully the pull of LFC, as well as fellow Denmark teammate and captain Daniel Agger, as well as former Ajax teammate Luis Suarez, will be enough to tempt him to Anfield.

So to conclude, our transfer dealings have gone fairly well, so far. 7/10. That figure may rise depending on the signings we make in the next few weeks. As for the Suarez saga, that’s probably for another blog, another time.