COMOLLI FRUSTRATED BY 'BUY BRITISH' TRANSFER POLICY
Damien Comolli lost his job as Liverpool’s director of football last week as the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, held him responsible for the failure of high profile, big-money signings such as Andy Carroll.
While Comolli publicly accepted his dismissal with good grace, saying he was “grateful” to have worked for Liverpool, friends of the Frenchman have told The Sweeper that he is privately “bitter and upset” about his departure.
Comolli feels that the American owners and manager Kenny Dalglish pushed him towards a transfer policy of targeting young British players even though he advised them that there was more value for money abroad.
For example, Comolli is believed to have been extremely interested in signing Juan Mata last summer from Valencia and received encouragement from the Spaniard’s representatives.
Dalglish was not so keen and the Reds instead signed an expensive compromise in Stewart Downing from Aston Villa for £20 million. The England winger is yet to score or provide an assist in the Premier League so far this season.
While Comolli accepts that he was happy to buy Downing, he believes that the restrictions placed upon him led to Liverpool signing average players who have underperformed this season as Dalglish’s side sit eighth in the league table.
There were a couple of success stories in Luis Suarez (£22.8m) and Jose Enrique (£6m) but Comolli was ultimately held accountable for the poor returns from Carroll (£35m), Downing (£20m), Jordan Henderson (£16m) and Charlie Adam (£7m).
The 49-year-old has now returned to France to spend time with his family - who never moved to Merseyside - and is keen for his next job to be with a Ligue 1 club due to the “family reasons” cited in the statement announcing his departure from Anfield.
Damien Comolli lost his job as Liverpool’s director of football last week as the club’s owners, Fenway Sports Group, held him responsible for the failure of high profile, big-money signings such as Andy Carroll.
While Comolli publicly accepted his dismissal with good grace, saying he was “grateful” to have worked for Liverpool, friends of the Frenchman have told The Sweeper that he is privately “bitter and upset” about his departure.
Comolli feels that the American owners and manager Kenny Dalglish pushed him towards a transfer policy of targeting young British players even though he advised them that there was more value for money abroad.
For example, Comolli is believed to have been extremely interested in signing Juan Mata last summer from Valencia and received encouragement from the Spaniard’s representatives.
Dalglish was not so keen and the Reds instead signed an expensive compromise in Stewart Downing from Aston Villa for £20 million. The England winger is yet to score or provide an assist in the Premier League so far this season.
While Comolli accepts that he was happy to buy Downing, he believes that the restrictions placed upon him led to Liverpool signing average players who have underperformed this season as Dalglish’s side sit eighth in the league table.
There were a couple of success stories in Luis Suarez (£22.8m) and Jose Enrique (£6m) but Comolli was ultimately held accountable for the poor returns from Carroll (£35m), Downing (£20m), Jordan Henderson (£16m) and Charlie Adam (£7m).
The 49-year-old has now returned to France to spend time with his family - who never moved to Merseyside - and is keen for his next job to be with a Ligue 1 club due to the “family reasons” cited in the statement announcing his departure from Anfield.
- Greg Stobart | Northern Correspondent
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Something I found on the net, could be bull.
