da dobrowin： With the summer window slowly looming and Liverpool clearly in need of some new recruits via the transfer market, the tabloids have thrown up a plethora of Reds-based rumours over the last few weeks.
da casino： Indeed, if manager Brendan Rodgers plans on propelling the Anfield outfit back towards Champions League qualification, he needs to add both depth and quality to his squad this summer – and in the process, improve an abysmal transfer record that’s drawn plenty of criticism this season.
But under such pressurised circumstances, mistakes can easily be made. And although new arrivals are expected this summer, Rodgers must ensure he doesn’t fall into the many traps of the transfer market; the low-risk-high-reward signings that amount to nothing, the bargain bosmans who break their legs on the first week of training but end up on the wage bill for the next four years, the big names who will struggle to live up to their preceding reputations.
So with that in mind, Football Fancast have listed the FIVE rumoured transfer targets Liverpool should avoid like the plague this summer.
CHARLIE AUSTIN
Source: The Express
I’m a huge fan of Charlie Austin’s, but that hasn’t eradicated the persisting fear the 25 year-old will flop spectacularly at a major Premier League club.
His ability to score goals regularly in the top flight remains without doubt, evident enough through his 17-goal haul for a QPR side heading back to the Championship and currently rock bottom of the Premier League table.
Despite his 6 foot 2 frame, however, and entrenched tenacity from his many years in the Football League, Austin’s struggled considerably this term when fielded as a lone front-man. His best performances – and indeed, the majority of his goals – have come when playing alongside veteran target man Bobby Zamora.
Playing with two up front is hardly a prominent trend at the Premier League’s summit, with the exception of Manuel Pellegrini’s Manchester City, and with good reason. Although Austin offers fantastic netting prowess, he’s not the complete centre-forward Liverpool need.
TOBY ALDERWEIRELD
Source: The Daily Star
Don’t get me wrong – Toby Alderweireld is a class act; a versatile, well-rounded defender with quality on the ball and a fantastic reading of the game.
So after impressing on loan at Southampton this season, it wouldn’t be too surprising if Brendan Rodgers’ revived his interest in the 26 year-old from summer 2013 – when the Belgium international allegedly snubbed a move to Anfield in favour of Atletico Madrid.
My only fear here is Brendan Rodgers. Put it simply, his transfer record thus far at Liverpool is abysmal, and after throwing a combined £50million at Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert last summer, the last thing he needs is yet another Southampton-based fad to flop on Merseyside and further besmirch his reputation.
Do the Reds need another centre-back this summer? Possibly. But for Rodgers’ sake, Alderweireld just isn’t worth the gamble.
STEPHAN EL SHAARAWY
Source: The Metro
If Brendan Rodgers ever felt the need to prove he’s learnt absolutely nothing from the Mario Balotelli fiasco, the first thing he should do is launch a bid for the striker’s former AC Milan team-mate Stephan El Shaarawy.
The winger-forward isn’t your tortured-genius-come-mind-of-a-child-trapped-in-the-body-of-a-world-class-footballer variety like Liverpool’s £16million flop. But in a similar vein to Balotelli, he’s a young footballer heralded for greatness from an early age that’s gone on to produce very little.
Indeed, Shaarawy was once a prime target of Europe’s top clubs, but since netting 14 times in the first half of the 2013/14 Serie A campaign, he’s gone on to claim just 3 goals in 35 league outings.
Admittedly, injuries have been a significant factor in the 22 year-old’s stuttered progress. But signing him this summer, in a bid to unleash the potential several managers at AC Milan have already failed to, would be nothing more than another Rodgers vanity project.
YOHAN CABAYE
Source: Mirror Football
A decent midfielder Yohan Cabaye certainly is. But a long-term solution to the almighty void Steven Gerrard will leave behind when he departs for the MLS this summer? Certainly not.
That’s no disrespect to the France international, who does boast a cultured passing range and dead ball delivery not too dissimilar to the aged, more reserved and methodical Gerrard of the last few seasons.
But acquiring a Gerrard-lite this summer hardly improves the make-up of Liverpool’s squad. In fact, the principle alone weakens it – especially considering Cabaye is already 29 years of age and has spent the last 18 months sulking on PSG’s bench.
Furthermore, the playmaker’s best performances at Newcastle – the talismanic status he reached in the six months prior to his Parc de Princes move in January 2014 – were predominantly at No.10, where he was given license to get forward and score goals.
Liverpool, however, are hardly short of attacking midfielders; Adam Lallana, Philippe Coutinho and Raheem Sterling is more than enough quality and depth for one position.
RADAMEL FALCAO
Source: The Independent
Liverpool’s unquenchable lust for a marquee signing has reportedly drawn them to Manchester United’s Radamel Falcao, who is unlikely to make his loan stay at Old Trafford permanent this summer after netting just four times in all competitions for his adoptive club.
Liverpool have been strongly linked with the Colombian international before and not long ago he was unquestionably one of the most formidable finishers in Europe, boasting incredible returns of 72 goals in 80 appearances for FC Porto and 70 in 91 for Atletico Madrid.
But in truth, Falcao has never fully recovered from the spate of injuries either side of his £55million move to Monaco in summer 2013 – an issue that’s gone surprisingly unmentioned considering his poor form at Old Trafford – and already 29 years of age, it’s highly possible that he never will.
Although the El Tiger is the high-profile signing Liverpool desperately crave, he’s an enormous risk at his rumoured price of £20million – and that’s without even mentioning his potential wages.