There's been a lot of boo boys about our dealings so far, which I feel is unjustified, anyway, I just read this, and thought it was spot on.
Liverpool transfer window report: Quiet satisfaction but Mkhitaryan remains the one that got away
2 Aug 2013 09:15
David Maddock assesses Brendan Rodgers' transfer dealings so far this summer and believes Luis Suarez could still remain at Anfield next season
Missing link? Henrikh Mkhitaryan could have added goals from midfield
PAIt's always hard to offer an assessment on a work half finished, but Liverpool can be quietly satisfied with their summer so far, even if they are still ruing the one that got away.
Brendan Rodgers displayed the bold approach every Reds fan is yearning for from their manager when he struck early and hard in the transfer market, with four signings before anyone could say Ibiza here I come.
More of those later though, because even if the new guys have all already hinted at good things to come when the season gets underway, it is still the signing that didn't happen which could impact most on Rodgers' plans going forward.
It came as a surprise to many people the Liverpool boss was prepared to spend upwards of £20m on an Armenian midfielder few British football fans had heard of. Yet Henrikh Mkhitaryan is no Eastern European nobody, as the scramble for his signature - eventually won by Dortmund - ultimately illustrated.
Rodgers wants more goals from midfield. He sees skipper Steven Gerrard - another hugely influential signing when he agreed a new contract, incidentally - as holding more in the middle as the years advance, and his planning going forward revolves around a new face to provide a significant number of goals from behind the front three.
Mkhitaryan was that face, and there seem few alternatives right now, given his prolific figures and huge talent driving into the penalty area. Fed by the intelligent passing of Gerrard and Joe Allen, he could have been a revelation at Anfield.
Could remain: Luis Suarez will not necessarily leave this summer
Stanley Chou
Instead, Liverpool are left looking for an alternative who doesn't seem to be out there, which means they could easily go into the season without a central part of their planning.
Mind you, they could just as easily go into the season with an important ingredient in their tactical approach they probably thought WOULDN'T be there.
At this stage, the odds are moving towards Luis Suarez remaining at Liverpool, despite Arsenal's clinically strategic interest, and the player's obvious and pressing desire to leave.
The Gunners were clearly encouraged to make their bid of £40m plus a quid, after being told by his agent it would trigger a release clause allowing him to leave for that figure.
Clearly too, they are being encouraged by the same voices that Suarez will force the issue and get out of Anfield for that figure. Yet there comes a point when they have to ask themselves at Emirates, why hasn't it happened then?
Perhaps because Liverpool are correct in their 100 per cent conviction there ISN'T such a clause - and believe me, at Anfield they are supremely confident the clause merely obliges them to inform the player of any offer over £40m, not sell him at that price.
The fact Suarez has done nothing for almost two weeks since the bid came in suggests he realises that now too, so what other options does he have?
He can sit out and wait for an Arsenal bid that will persuade Liverpool to sell, but that could be as high as £55m, and I just don't see that happening. Likewise, he could wait for Real Madrid to firm up the interest they have quietly informed him of over the past months.
But if Real get Gareth Bale as now seems certain, then they may decide to wait a season to splash out on another marquee signing.
Sensible signing: Simon Mignolet is a good addition to Liverpool's squad
That may be no bad thing for Suarez. As Steven Gerrard has suggested, he is a top player and really, if he leaves Liverpool he needs to step up to a side capable of winning the Champions League. Arsenal looks a sideways step that may prevent him for reaching that level, so perhaps another year at Anfield looks slightly more appealing to him now.
He could even operate in the role in front of the midfield Rodgers had penciled in for Mkhitaryan, so the plans for next season may well be salvaged by Liverpool's aggressive defence of their prize asset.
They probably need another centre half - and will certainly do so if Martin Skrtel gets his wish and leaves to resurrect a career that has faltered in the past 18 months - but otherwise they look in good shape.
Iago Aspas seems the perfect foil for the likes of the outrageously talented Philippe Coutinho, Suarez, Raheem Sterling and Daniel Sturridge, and Luis Alberto will add skill to an attacking group of players that looks potentially mesmerising.
Simon Mignolet too, is a good addition. He looked one of the Premier League's best keepers last season, and if you cut through the inevitable emotion surrounding the stalwart and impressive Liverpool servant Pepe Reina's departure, then it is a sensible signing.
I'm glad to see Reina has clarified his comments in a letter to fans following his move to Napoli, when he claimed not to know about the deal, nor to have been involved in the decision to leave, even though admitting to want to go Barcelona.
Logically, that can not be true, because not only does he share the same agent as Napoli manager Rafa Benitez - so must have known - he also retains the right to say no, which he didn't do...probably because Italy actually looks a good move for a player who maybe lost his edge a little over the past couple of seasons.
The fact is, it was a sound football decision made by Rodgers. I read somewhere it "wasn't the Liverpool Way" to offload Reina, but the opposite is palpably true - under the great Anfield managers it has always been the Liverpool Way to show no sentiment in replacing players, even if they are as important to the club's history as the great Spanish keeper.
So good luck Pepe, but the club moves on as always...a sentiment even Suarez would do well to remember.
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