Could the loss of Luis Suarez see Liverpool move in the wrong direction…
We’re now just one month away from that start of the new Premier League season, and the transfer sage of the summer involves a big-money move from England to Spain.
Sound familiar? We are of course just a year on from Gareth Bale’s record breaking move from Tottenham Hotspur to Real Madrid, which saw the North London club splash their new found fortune on the likes of Paulinho, Nacer Chadli, Roberto Soldado, Etienne Capous, Christian Eriksen, Erik Lamela and Vlad Chiriches.
Twelve months later, and Liverpool find themselves in a similar predicament with Luis Suarez and Barcelona. Taken at face value, to be able to demand in excess of £60 m for a player that is 27-years-old and has an unfortunately checkered history in terms of discipline is more than a good deal.
The Anfield faithful also has every right to be excited by the prospect of Adam Lallana, Emre Can, Rickie Lambert, Lazar Markovic, Divock Origi and potentially other European stars pulling on the famous red shirt come August.
However, they would do well to remember how such actions served Tottenham last season, and five issues they must aim to avoid:
Letting your star player leave can have a damaging effect on a team…
While a world record fee of £85.3 m for Gareth Bale looked like a great piece of business from Spurs, they massively missed the Welshman last season. He was their hub, their driving force – and Tottenham missed his goals and his creativity despite their multiple new signings. With Bale in the team, there was constantly a threat. At times, it felt like Bale was unstoppable, that when he picked up the ball and ran with it that there was simply no way of stopping him. He struck fear into opposition defences in a way no other Spurs player could.
Luis Suarez has a similarly talismanic effect on Liverpool. The rest of the Red’s players look to the Uruguayan as a source of inspiration, and rightly believe that he has the ability to completely change the course of a game for them. Liverpool are blessed with many talented attacking players, and a manager in Brendan Rodgers that has created an exceptional team ethic. But are the likes of Daniel Sturridge, Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana ready to become the new main man at Anfield? Only time will tell.
Signing young, relatively unproven talent can be dangerous…
Tottenham fans were licking their lips at the prospect of the half-a-dozen high profile signings they made following the sale of Bale. Over £40 m was spent on the likes of Lamela, Chadli and Capoue – undoubtedly talented players – but young, inexperienced and unproven at Premier League level. A further £50 m was shelled out on Soldado, Paulinho and Eriksen, and only two of those six players can claim that they enjoyed a successful first season at White Hart Lane.
Liverpool risk making the same mistake: buying hastily in order to fill the void left by Suarez’s departure, in order to appease the fans. Emre Can, Lazar Markovic and Divock Origi are all impressive young talents, but are they worth £45 m? Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert have both enjoyed wonderful spells with Southampton, but another £30 m has come and gone and the Red’s have still not truly replaced Suarez.
Unsettling a successful team with too many news signings is risky…
Tottenham proved that you might be able to sign a huge handful of stars with the money made from one sale, but that doesn’t necessarily give you a team. As players tried to settle in and adjust to life in the Premier League, so the club struggled for form. With the results not going their way, the new signings became disheartened and also began to struggle. Spurs had a group of talented players, but not a team accustomed to playing together.
Consistency is the key for Liverpool, who must retain at least a dozen of their key players from last season’s squad. Brendan Rodgers has been cleverer than Tottenham here, in the fact that he is getting his business done early – allowing players a pre-season campaign to become accustomed with each other. Unlike Spurs, he as already signed a couple of Premier League players, who will need no time to adjust to the league, the language or the culture. Even so, he needs to guard against disrupting a team that was so successful last season.
Letting a key target sign for a rival can be demoralising…
Last summer, Tottenham were desperate to sign Mesut Ozil from Real Madrid as part of the deal that saw Bale join the Spanish giants. However, the German international joined Arsenal, and Tottenham moved onto other targets.
In an almost exact replica of that scenario, Liverpool are attempting to convince Chilean superstar Alexis Sanchez to move to Anfield, with the 25-year-old seemingly having his heart set on a move to North London. Sanchez would arguably be the best possible replacement for Suarez in all of world football. An exciting South American talent who can play behind or alongside a main striker, he is as close to a like-for-like alternative as Liverpool can probably get. Missing out on the 25-year-old to their Premier League rivals could have an extremely demoralising effect at Anfield. Sanchez is at the peak of his powers and can be placed in an elite group of world class players. Will the Reds be able to attract a player who can be placed in the same category?
A team can be lost under the weight of expectation…
When Tottenham made their record breaking spending spree it was said in the media that they had the ability within their squad to win the Premier League.
Liverpool fans were pleasantly surprised by their impressive showing in last season’s top flight, which saw them narrowly miss out on a maiden Premier League title. The Red’s players are unlikely to be afforded such luxury’s this coming season, and will instead be dealing with a weight of expectation around Anfield, with fans demanding an impressive showing both domestically, and in European competition following their return to Champions League football. Liverpool’s young side crumbled somewhat at the end of last season, when Steven Gerrard’s slip against Chelsea and their second-half collapse at Crystal Palace handed Manchester City the title. They will need to do better this time around.
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