The rumours currently circulating regarding Charlie Adam’s potential move to Liverpool have drawn a wide array of attention. In particular Ian Holloway has suggested that Liverpool’s offer is ‘ridiculous’, ‘derisory’, ‘farcical’, the list goes on, pick your quote.
What I want to discuss here concerns not the transfer fee but the transfer itself. Are Liverpool mad?
Liverpool’s second choice striker is David N’Gog. With 9 goals in 55 Premier League appearances in his Liverpool career he is hardly flattering to deceive. Granted, he has not played many full games but that does not detract from the fact that he is distinctly average. Again I grant that he is only 21 and has potential but again that does not detract from the fact that he is not ready. Not ready for Liverpool’s first team, not ready for the Premiership, and not ready for a team that wants to contend to finish in the top 6, let alone the top 4.
In fact, to my knowledge, David N’Gog is the 52nd best striker in the Premiership.
I do not see the point in spending £30 million on a few decent players that will strengthen a weak squad when one player costing £30 milllion could dramatically improve the state of Liverpool’s predicament. The lack of depth in their midfield pales into insignificance when you analyse just how thin their strike force is.
Further still, a world class striker would allow Gerrard to play the role he is best in. Stevie has made the ‘box-to-box’ midfield role his own in the last ten years. He has only recently been deployed just off the striker. To be fair, he had an excellent season in 2008/9 playing this role but his skills as a midfielder cannot be forgotten. An extra striker would allow him to use these.
If Gerrard played under the best manager in the Premier League (Sir Alex Ferguson), he would play the role that Darren Fletcher currently plays. Ten times out of ten I would choose Gerrard ahead of Fletcher. It would mean playing 4-4-2 and not 4-3-3 and changing from the formation that saw them finish second. Surely Man United must be doing something right?
Instead of looking for another Alonso (a label banded around with Adam) they should look for a genuine partner for Fernando Torres. They should evolve, just as Man Utd have done over the years and adapt to suit what they currently need. Not try and recreate an excellent side of yester year (that did not actually win anything!)
Spending big cash may be a tough financial decision, but if they do not do it now they will lose more money in the long run. Key players like Carragher and Gerrard are getting on now and only have a few years left in them (Carra maybe even less). Crucially though is the question of how long will Fernando Torres continue to be content not playing Champions League football. If they lose their big guns, it is only a matter of time before even more serious financial investment will be needed to compensate for the money they have lost in missing out on European football.
Liverpool need to bite the bullet and splash out on a striker of genuine quality. They do exist (Llorente, Suarez, Aguero, Pazzini are a few off the top of my head). It would send such an exciting message to everyone involved at the club. A club that’s famously supreme morale is in a deep, deep trough.
And for those who are interested in the 51 Premier League strikers in the league I rate higher than N’Gog, here you are…
(Van Persie, Chamakh, Bendtner, Bent, Agbonlahor, Heskey, Carew, Jerome, Santa Cruz, Davies, Elmander, Anelka, Dempsey, Saha, Zamora, Torres, Tevez, Dzeko, Adebayor, Jo, Balotelli, Bellamy, Van Der Vaart, Defoe, Pavlyuchencko, Crouch, Odemingie, Piquionne, Cole, Rodallega, Fletcher, Doyle, Beckford, Benjani, Kalinic, Roberts, Klasnic, Johnson, Berbatov, Rooney, Hernandez, Carroll, Ameobi, Jones, Fuller, Gyan, Welbeck.)
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