A close look at Liverpool’s summer so far

Transfers OUT

Jamie Carragher announced his retirement from football while Peter Gulacsi joined Red Bull Salzburg on a free transfer and another outcast, Danny Wilson, joined Heart of Midlothian in the Scottish Premier League.

Andy Carroll

The former Liverpool no. 9, who was brought into replace Fernando Torres, turned out to be the biggest flop in the club’s recent memory. His battle with fitness never seemed to jive with his sporadic displays of wonder on the field. The manager’s decision to ship him out on loan last season to West Ham curtailed his chance to earn a place amongst Liverpool’s faithful, as the Hammers made the transfer permanent this summer. In 2011, Liverpool was asked if Carroll would bring them back into the lucrative Champions League. About thirty months later, the answer is pretty evident.

Jonjo Shelvey

A year ago, the midfielder dwindled on path to salvaging a place in a mediocre Liverpool team. As more and more talents were bought by Brendan Rodgers, Jonjo Shelvey disappeared back into the reserves. Shelvey went from being an acclaimed purchase in the pre-Rodgers era to a reserve player. Swansea will make do with his potential, as he looks forward to unravelling his vision and crafty touch that has earned him several U-21 caps.

Potential Transfers IN

Henrikh Mkhitaryan

The Reds seemed to have learned from fiascos of Glyfi Sigurdsson and Clint Dempsey, and will now do what it takes to not fall victim to a ‘more promising’ entity. Reports surfaced that Mkhitaryan would be a Liverpool player in a matter of hours. And then the same newspapers quashed those reports and ruled out the Armenian’s move to Merseyside. Will he come to Liverpool? It could be close, but given Rodgers’s tenacity to land his top targets, he should don the Liverbird on his chest in the next couple of weeks. He might be an expensive transfer, but he has all the requisites to lead Liverpool’s resurgence back into the top 4.

Kyriakos Papadopoulos

Just like his name, Papadopoulos is a mouthful to handle for any team’s attack. He is a fierce competitor who will fit in well next to Liverpool’s calm administrator, Daniel Agger. However, reports of his move to Liverpool began to die down towards the end of June as Schalke have refused to budge with its asking price for Papadopoulos. Unless Brendan Rodgers is willing to throw in 12 million pounds for Papadopoulos, the Greek may be up for grabs by other suitors in the transfer market. If the Mkhitaryan saga ends soon, Rodgers and Liverpool will next shift their attention towards pursuing Papadopoulos.

Victor Wanayama

Anfield’s faithful are unsure as to why Liverpool even needs to buy Wanayama since he plays the same role as Lucas Leiva. While the Kenyan displays a more mobile game of football than Leiva does, Liverpool cannot doubt the commitment evinced by the present man at the role. During the games he missed out due to injury, the club struggled to maintain possession or win the ball back in the middle of the park. If Rodgers wishes to add competition to the starting lineup, he is already achieving that by having Jordan Henderson and Joe Allen in the squad. Adding Wanayama will provide more depth; but the money involved could be used elsewhere.

Tiago Llori

Liverpool could make best use of Sporting Lisbon’s financial crunch to sign a highly touted prospect in Tiago Llori. While Rodgers is keen to proceed with an influx of young talent into the club, he is not going to be able to guarantee game time for the Portuguese should he sign another centre back – a worry to ponder over before Tiago Llori arrives at Anfield. Llori has a belt of U-20 experience with Portugal and is known for his tenacity. He could be moulded into one of Liverpool’s prime defenders in the future.