As Liverpool look towards a Jamie Carragher-less future, many fans believe that Liverpool will have to go out and buy a new centre back to cover for Jamie’s absence. However, this may not be the case. In Martin Kelly and Andre Wisdom, Liverpool have two young men who will both feel that they are capable of filling the huge void that will be left by Carragher, allowing the available funds to be spent on strengthening other positions. Rather than just having three first team centre-backs in Daniel Agger, Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel, Liverpool may actually have five.
If anything, out of the two, Andre Wisdom probably looks more like a centre back at this stage than Martin Kelly. At present, Andre looks like what Jamie Carragher was when he was emerging as a Liverpool player; a centre back playing right back. Andre looks solid, very good in the air and knows how to use his physicality to out-muscle attackers, he also looks to have a very cool head on his broad shoulders. At times he’s been caught out at right back, but that’s bound to happen in this current Liverpool side that relies heavily on the full-backs pushing forward.
Martin Kelly, remember him?
Martin has been out since the 2-1 home defeat by Manchester United in September after he suffered a nasty cruciate knee ligament injury and has almost become a forgotten man due to his long lay off. Before his injury, Martin was featuring regularly for Liverpool at right back, and many forget that he was part of the England squad for Euro 2012.
Martin signed a new contract at Anfield this past week, committing his future to his boyhood side by putting pen to paper on a new long term deal. This is great news for both Martin and Liverpool; he is a very accomplished right back, with pace to burn and the ability to affect the game both offensively and defensively. This athleticism could serve Kelly well if he was to be utilised as a centre back, as it could allow him to make up for any errors or misjudgements that he might make as he establishes himself in that position.
It is a huge burden to ask any man to replace and try to replicate what Jamie Carragher has done for Liverpool. Carragher has been a great servant to the club, and if Martin and/or Andre have even half the career that Jamie has had, then they’ll have done well. With Liverpool looking to progress even further, it could well be time for Brendan Rodgers to start thinking of Martin Kelly and Andre Wisdom as centre back/full back hybrids, rather than just full backs.
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