Silly season was perhaps at it’s silliest this season. With Sky Sports going on and on about Gareth Bale, Luis Suarez and Wayne Rooney’s moves to other clubs for approximately 14 hours a day. Although, strangely as a Liverpool supporter, our silly season was well…. lacking silliness. Perhaps the transfer committee had taken heed from some Monty Python advice?
Some sections of the fans had critiqued FSG for not spending the £30m that the squad needed and had pointed to asset stripping and conspiracy theories. Although this was not a summer of asset stripping, it was a summer of putting some bricks on the very sturdy foundations of Brendan’s Liverpool.
Liverpool acted quickly in recruiting Kolo Toure (Free), Luis Alberto (£7m) & Iago Aspas (£7.2m). We’d shifted Andy Carroll for £15.4m and before you ask, I have no idea what they’re smoking at the Boleyn Ground either. This summer was one that saw Liverpool needing to add to the squad in key areas such as centre back, left back and attacking options but also to add some quality into the group. From early activity it was evident that Liverpool had some money to spend, not hundreds of millions but that there was cash to improve the group.
Liverpool didn’t just need to improve the group, but also offload some of the deadwood in the squad that were on wages that could be put to better use in transfer fees or on wages for players the club actually wanted. We saw the likes of Jay Spearing, Jonjo Shelvey, Stewart Downing, Peter Gulacasi, Dani Pacheco and Danny Wilson all leave the club permanently; granted only three of these players left for actual fees. There was also the contentious loaning of Pepe Reina to Napoli when Simon Mignolet was bought in from Sunderland for £9.3m. A move that I must admit supported. Pepe had been a great servant to the club but he’d been flirting with Barcelona and you can’t keep a goalkeeper whose head isn’t 100% at Anfield. Ultimately, the purchase of Mignolet is looking more and more like a bargain
Liverpool rounded their business up by purchasing Mamadou Sakho (£18.5m) and Tiago Ilori (£7.2m) but also bringing in Aly Cissokho and Victor Moses on season long loans, something that may turn permanent if they impress you feel. Deadline day also saw Fabio Borini loaned out to Sunderland for the same loan fee as Moses joined us for, around £1.2m. If you were offered those recruits at the start of the transfer window, I know I personally would have snapped your hand off for them. The squad has been added to and we seem to have depth throughout the group but also as Brendan has alluded to, a group that seems to have a great amount of ‘togetherness’.
Liverpool did though miss out on one area, it would seem that we were looking at players who could play in the left forward role but also slot in easily in the number 10 role. With the sale of Stewart Downing, Rodgers seems to want 3 players, arguably 4 if you include Daniel Sturridge, who can float around the front line and play in any of the positions. Not just to add greater squad depth for each position but also to increase the fluidity in the Liverpool team.
Liverpool seemed to have their targets set on Henrikh Mkhitaryan and pursued him publically. There were conflicting reports at how close we were to signing him or to agreeing a fee, nobody quite knows but ultimately he chose to move to Dortmund. The obvious lure of Champions League football, in fact the Champions League Runners up, was there for Henrikh. A few years back, Liverpool would have blown Dortmund out of the water in a negotiation battle but this is modern day. We’re not in any form of European competition and hence some top players may look at us compared to a club in the Champions League and our glistening trophy cabinet, famous name and lovely Red shirt may not be as enticing as it once was. Or it could be the god-awful away kits that Warrior design.
Liverpool moved on from Henrikh, to Diego. Oh, Atletico Madrid, how you have provided us with some good players over the years. Diego Costa to Liverpool was surely going to happen? Yes, they’re a Champions League team but we’re Liverpool and ultimately we could offer Diego much more money than they could. Once again, Liverpool’s very public courting of a player had made us looking foolish when we were rejected by Diego Costa who quashed all rumours by signing a new deal at Atleti. Third time lucky, surely? Willian became available when Anzhi Makhachkala decided to go on a fire sale.
Liverpool’s interest in Willian seemed to only appear when they knew he was available and ultimately, it wasn’t so much the player rejecting us but the financial side of the deal not looking right for the club. Fans were quick to take to twitter blaming a lack of ambition, asset stripping or tight fistedness from FSG for this but, if the deal doesn’t look right, don’t do it. For too long Liverpool have overpaid on players and acted like a child whose just been given his pocket money in a sweet shop. Now, we’re behaving sensibly and looking for deals that aren’t just financially sound but right for the squad. You can please all the people some of the time, you can please some of the people all the time but you can’t please all the people all the time. That saying is very much true.
Christian Eriksen was another name touted about for a Liverpool move but ultimately he joined the ever-growing list of attacking midfielders in Spurs’ ranks. There also seems to never have really been any concrete interest in the Danish midfielder and this article is doesn’t have the word count available to discuss whether that is correct or incorrect, so I’ll leave you to discuss that on twitter, the pub or alone in your own head.
Liverpool could be criticized for one valid area in this transfer window though. We were too public in our interest of key targets and didn’t have any way of saving face when we were beaten to them. Granted, you want to allow some publicity of your interest before you negotiate to potentially sound out the player and his agent…yes tapping up very much exists, deal with it. Although, when you’re discussing with his club, you want minimal publicity on this. Keep it under wraps. That way, if the deal doesn’t happen then you can come away with some face and say through the tears “well, we didn’t want him anyway”. Liverpool didn’t have any chance to do this. Liverpool either were briefing certain journalists over here with far too much information, or leaks were coming from abroad to be used as bait for clubs who may pay more money than what we would offer. We’ll never know, but it’s certainly something that Liverpool need to look at in the next windows. In World War 2, it was said, “loose lips sink ships”; well loose lips sink deals and embarrass clubs.
Ultimately though, the most cliché statement has to be made, keeping Luis Suarez was our best signing of the window. The club and Brendan took a superb line with Luis. If you want to leave, we’ll sell you at a price and a time that suits us but remember how we backed you on two occasions. Luis wasn’t attacked by Liverpool, but he was made to feel small in my opinion by some brilliant words from Brendan. That Luis Suarez is an employee of Liverpool Football Club and he’ll do as he’s told. He isn’t above the club. Arsenal were dealt with fairly swiftly by the club and telling Real Madrid to “not call again” pretty much told Luis where he’d be come the 3rd of September.
Overall, Liverpool spent £51.2m in this transfer window on players that were worth £55.8m using TransferMarkt’s statistics. Regaining £28m+ in transfer and loan fees, leaving us with a net spend of £23m. So for those fans who said FSG needed to put £30m into the squad, there it is.
Looking at the four areas of the squad; Goalkeeper, Defence, Midfield and Forwards, we can see improvements and also some problematic areas.
GK: Mignolet in. Reina out.
Mignolet is a young goalkeeper but he’s already shown statistically over the last few years that he is better than Reina. That is without doubt. He looks to have settled into the Anfield goal fairly well, having conceded no goals so far this season and looking superb in pre-season. For those who pine after Reina, give Simon a season and you’ll be happy.
Defence: Sakho, Ilori, Toure, Cissokho (loan).
We’ve certainly added depth at centre back this summer and replaced the experience that we lost with the departure of Jamie Carragher. The players we’ve bought in look to have added quality than we already had in the group and I for one am extremely pleased to Sakho in our ranks. Cissokho as competition for Enrique seems a good move, if he can find his form again after some troublesome time in Spain.
Midfield: Luis Alberto In. Spearing, Shelvey & Downing OUT.
Luis Alberto’s role in the squad is likely to still be being defined. He’s obviously a squad player but if he’ll be played in the 10 or given time deeper in midfield is yet to be seen. The departure of Shelvey, leaves the midfield looking a tad bear with options. I’d have liked to have seen a defensive midfielder bought in personally.
Attack: Suarez retained. Aspas & Moses IN. Carroll OUT. Borini Loaned.
Depth added to our attacking options and Aspas certainly looks a tricky player who can be problematic for defences. Moses is a power player and it’ll be interesting to see where he’s played this season and how he adapts to how Liverpool want to play. Although, I don’t agree with the decision to loan Borini but I hope the loan spell aids his development.
Twitter rating of the transfer window: 7.4/10.
My rating: 8.
All transfer fees and information obtained from TransferMarkt.co.uk
