SUPPORTING Liverpool Football Club at this moment and time is a little bit depressing, there’s no denying it, writes LACHLAN BALLINGALL.
The results have been awful, especially the one that just went against Tottenham Hotspur on the weekend. The players that took to the pitch looked disinterested and seemed to be caught in the moment.
There were no positives to take from the match, and with that being the case, you wouldn’t be foolish for expecting to see a changed side for Huddersfield Town’s visit to Anfield this weekend.
With The Reds in less than flattering form and the season sitting on a cliff edge, a situation the club could do without is that of Emre Can. You’d have to be living under a rock to be unaware of the fact that Liverpool’s midfielder is in the final season of his contract, so many people want to know one thing: will he sign on to stay at Anfield?
As every day goes by, the more supporters should worry about the prospect of losing the German international. It may be a little bit too early to predict, but there doesn’t seem to be much movement to suggest that he will still be a Liverpool player next season.
Would that be the end of the world? Hardly, but there’s no denying it would be a blow. There can’t be many who look at Can and sees a world beater of a footballer, but there is certainly enough talent on display to believe that he has the potential.
When the club brought him to Anfield from Bayer Leverkusen in 2014 for a fee of £9.75million, many believed we had signed a player of real potential for the future. He was 20 years of age when he made the move, and as the years have gone by, we have seen good improvement in Liverpool’s number 23.
He’s a player that is perfectly suited to the Premier League with his build and power. He has shown he has the ability to play in both attacking and defensive areas of the midfield. He’s found the back of the net on 10 occasions in all competitions for Liverpool and has provided nine assists as well. He is certainly a very handy footballer.
Now, Liverpool bringing him in at such a young age meant we weren’t going to see his best football for a number of years. He’s only 23 at this moment, so that football is still yet to come.
While it wouldn’t be the end of the world if Can decided he wanted to leave, losing him on a free when the club has put a number of games into him would be a massive blow. The whole point of signing him was to develop and improve him so we would get his best years. Imagine all that time and effort going down the drain if Liverpool lose him for a free?
There’s no denying he has room for improvement in areas of his game, particularly his concentration and management of certain situations in games, but many forget how young he still is. The fact that Juventus seem keen on his services says enough.
Also, if Can does decide that he wants to leave, what does that say about the club at the moment? Are Liverpool as attractive an option as supporters hoped they would be under Jürgen Klopp? Maybe they are, but if certain key players are wanting out it is worrying.
Philippe Coutinho is a prime example of this when he made his intentions clear as Barcelona came calling in the summer — a player that Klopp had promised to build his side around. A lot of it may stem from the fact that Liverpool haven’t won one of them shiny things since 2012. Players want medals to look back at when they retire, and The Reds aren’t providing that at this moment.
Hopefully that changes in the not so distant future under Klopp, but at this moment Liverpool can’t guarantee it like some clubs can.
Liverpool need a definitive answer from Can on where he sees his future. If he’s planning on moving on then the club would be better served starting the lads who actually want to be there. Unlike Coutinho, Can isn’t the sort of match winner who should be on the pitch at all costs so it shouldn’t be seen as such a controversial move.
The calls for Klopp to be ruthless have been thrown around this week, and that needs to be reiterated when it comes to the future of Can. Now more than ever, Liverpool need players on the pitch who want to fight for the shirt and play an active part in Klopp’s project.
If he moves on, good luck to him. It may look like a blow now, but The Reds have lost better players in the past and bounced back.
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We have Keita coming next year and quite frankly Can is so inconsistent I really don’t care.
How we have let this situation develop like this is simply fucking bizarre and terrible business!
If he wanted a get out clause in his contract then why not simply give him it? Let’s say we agreed a £40mil get out clause in his new contract, would we be in a better or worse situation than we are now where he’s about to leave for nothing?!
We’ve took on a German international, developed him for 3 years giving him regular games while he was still quite young and are now gonna lose him to Juve probably who will see his best years.
Several years ago when we started this trend of taking on young promising players to develop I’d said that once they done their developing with us they’d move on to the bigger clubs.
These players have played their inconsistent years in a red shirt, ironed out their niggles only to move on to give their better years to the top clubs. Coutinho will be next, probably followed by Mané.
While these players develop with us, we as a club struggle because of the inconsistencies.
Not to mention it’s very unusual for a foreign player to stay at any one club for longer than 5 seasons unless that club is winning things or paying massive wages.
What do you suggest we do then? Buy ready world class players in their peak?
Agree about the Can thing to an extent, although I’ve given up on him ever becoming anything consistent at LFC. Maybe needs the change in circumstances to iron out the junior dick head desicion making from his game. The lad is utterly infuriating.
My suggestion is to buy players around the age of 22/23 who have already had a few years developing so we get their best years playing for us not visa versa.
Nothing wrong with buying the odd player at 27/28+ either.
I believe we made a mistake not bringing in Howedes and think we should still go for Aubameyang.
Put a buy in clause in. Let Juventus activate on August 30th. See how that 40m works for us in the bank with no time to replace him.
If Can wants to run his contract down and leave then fair fucks to him. Its his choice and his right to do that.
Looks like he’s flirting with Juve. I think he’ll be at another club next season.
Problem is he is still inconsistent and makes many mistakes. I would be happy if he stays but it appears that we have set our face against get out clauses ( Coutinho). One player is unlikely to change club policy.
Young players developing tend to be inconsistent….like how Coutinho used to be.
Do we want these young players to develop with us, ironing out their inconsistencies only for them to move on to the bigger clubs giving them their best years?
We are in danger of becoming a feeder club.
Not bothered, we have far bigger problems than if this show pony decides to leave.
He’s a dangerous player not for us but for the opposition, in that he thinks he is far better than he actually is. The example is the blind run he made into midfield on Sunday when he gave the ball away thus leading to the third goal.
Will miss his hair though, I think Can’s hair is possibly the best we have ever seen in an LFC shirt.
Not my kind of player as a defensive midfielder He’s shine sort of at DM but yet we are bad defensive wise. if we have good defenders he stand no chance as a regular player. I have being more impressed of him going, but yet he stands no chance with the FAB 4 and Lanalla in good shape. he did be worth while as a sub nothing more. if he goes to MU or MC he stand to RUST on the bench cos these clubs are not developmental clubs. Juv, I don’t KNOW. FOR ME IF HE WANT TO WALK IN JANUARY LET HIM WORK AWAY WITH SOME CASH IN OUR ACCOUNT
He can sign a pre contract agreement with Juve in Jan and join them for free in the summer.
A terrible piece of business on our part.
He is nothing more than a half decent defender or midfielder depending on where he is played,who far too often loses concentration and makes silly but costly mistakes . Even though this is a World Cup year he is pulling up any trees.
If he wants to go elsewhere let him go we have more than enough average players in the squad as it is.
The club must know what he intends to do and don’t seem to be too put out when he goes put his wages towards paying for a top class player to fill one of the positions we need
(I think most reds know the 4/5 we are talking about)