Emre Can was signed by Liverpool from Bayer Leverkusen for £10 million. He was signed as a midfielder but possessed the versatility to play in defence too. Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers played him in midfield at the start of the season. Perhaps his most notable performance in that position came against Chelsea when he opened the scoring after breaking through the middle.
After being out of the team for a while, he returned to the field in the match against Burnley. He came on as a half-time substitute and was part of a three-man defence. It was a match in which Liverpool were looking very shaky at the back and Can’s introduction brought solidity to the back line.
From then on, Rodgers utilised the German in defence and he shone in the position playing alongside Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho. With a three-man defence coupled with Simon Mignolet’s improvement in form, Liverpool embarked on a 12-match unbeaten run in the league initiated by the defeat of Burnley defeat on Boxing Day.
And it was a tactical masterstroke by Rodgers to play him there as his calmness and willingness to move the ball out from the back were welcome qualities to a sometimes erratic Reds defence.
But the run was ended by arch-rivals Manchester United and it led to the slow disintegration of the back three. Rodgers then sometimes resorted to a back four and played Can at right back but it was clear that the German was not suited to that role. The FA Cup semi-final against Aston Villa and the ultimate league match against Stoke City are the prime examples of that. Both of those matches ended in defeat for Liverpool and Can was replaced at half-time in the Stoke match.
Rodgers can be excused for playing Can at full-back as injuries and poor form of certain players enforced that tactical move.
Statistics from WhoScored show that Can played 16 matches in central defence and five at right-back. But the rather more damning statistic is that he only played four matches in his favoured centre midfield position; albeit there was competition coming from the likes of Steven Gerrard and Jordan Henderson.
But going forward, I believe Can will establish him as a key midfielder for Liverpool.
He can have the same effect as a certain Yaya Toure does for Manchester City, picking up the ball and driving it forward. He is always eager to make up space and get himself involved in attacking moves. Even when he was playing in defence, he made 40 or 50 yard runs with the ball and managed to retain the ball too.
Can showcased his prowess on Wednesday with his goal for Germany Under-21s in the Euros. He turned inside a Serbian player before calmly side footing him.
I, for one, would like to see the former Bayern Munich man played primarily in the middle as that where his future lies.
