Why Liverpool must give Glen Johnson a new contract

Glen Johnson

Luis Suarez grabbed the headlines once again after netting a brace in Liverpool’s 4-0 win over struggling Fulham. With eight goals in six games now, he is tied with strike partner Daniel Sturridge and Manchester City’s Sergio Aguero as the Premier League’s top scorers. Since returning to the side following his lengthy ban, he has made the kind of impact everyone knew he would, the kind of impact that a team–any team–would obviously miss dearly.

With him in the side, one point or none at all can become three. The amount of attention he gets from the media and from the Anfield faithful, is expected, as what he brings to a game so often makes the kind of difference one simply cannot do without.

For Glen Johnson, who returned from injury to start in this game, it’s not quite the same situation. “Glen is the type of player you don’t realise what you’re missing until he is not in the team,” said Brendan Rodgers during the right-back’s recent spell on the sidelines.

But being unheralded certainly doesn’t imply that Johnson lacks significance to Liverpool. In fact, he showed versus Fulham precisely why they need him, earning a Performance Score of 79 points along with captain Steven Gerrard, making him the team and the game’s joint third-best player.

Without him, the team lacked real attacking endeavour, thrust and energy from right full-back. Those missing elements returned along with him in this game. His heat map above reflects just how involved he was down the right flank in not only the attacking phase of play, but the defensive as well. He attempted six take-on’s, 89 passes, seven crosses, and even a shot. He also made three tackles and five interceptions, the latter made both in his own half and the opposition’s. Overall, it was the kind of ‘two way,’ lung-busting, effective performance that sees the 29-year-old regarded as England’s best right-back.

And yet, he finds himself in the centre of a huge conundrum. He is about to enter the final 18 months of his contract, but it seems the club’s owners are reluctant to offer him a new deal on his current salary, which is said to be around £110,000 per week, putting him not only in the bracket of Gerrard, Suarez, and Daniel Agger as the club’s best paid players, but in the bracket of the world’s best paid full-back’s. If he wants to remain at the club, he must take a pay cut, something he is said to be reluctant to do.

“It will resolve itself,” Johnson said last month. “I’ve got 18 months left and no-one’s mentioned anything further to me, so my job is to warrant a new contract. All I can do is concentrate on working hard and doing well on the pitch. That’s served me well over the last five years, and I’m sure it will serve me well in the future.”

But with time ebbing away, can the Reds really afford to lose a player of Johnson’s quality?

It’s no secret that quality full-back’s are hard to come by these days. One only has to look at the struggles of summer recruit Aly Cissokho on Liverpool’s opposite flank to see just how true that is. Johnson cost the club a huge £17.5 million fee back in 2009 after impressing at Portsmouth, but he has been worth every penny. True, questions have been asked of him defensively, but he has learned to use his pace well in order to recover. As for going forward on the attack, as he showed versus Fulham and on many other occasions, he can make a huge impact.

He certainly proved both points last season. He won the most duels among the league’s defenders (224). The 73 successful tackles he made ranked him fourth along with Everton left-back Leighton Baines, while no one beat the 61 take-on’s he completed. As for chances created, he was tied for third with 46 along with Reading’s Nicky Shorey, while he placed second with regards to shots at goal with 39. Twenty-eight of those shots were attempted from outside the penalty area, a figure that no defender beat.

Even though his current season has been disrupted by injury, he has thus far maintained what he did last season. To date, he is averaging three tackles, two take-on’s, and 1.2 created chances per game, compared to the averages of two, 1.7, and 1.3 from last term. Shots are down to 0.7 from 1.1, but this is to be expected given the changes in system by Rodgers this season as he tries to accommodate both Sturridge and Suarez in his lineup. Johnson would still have his efforts at goal, but he must now focus more on ensuring the strikers are properly serviced. That said, he must work on his final ball.

Liverpool must work on keeping their star full-back. True, he is getting on in years, making a lengthy extension on his current wages a financial risk, but the club isn’t where it once was, meaning that attracting world class players isn’t as straightforward as it once was. That said, replacing a player of Johnson’s quality wouldn’t be easy.

Rodgers has undertaken a project to restore the club to its former glory. If he is to do so, he must not only build from the bottom up–which he is doing–but it’s imperative that the club retains its best players to help the project continue to progress. Glen Johnson is certainly one of them. Whatever the agreement reached, if any, it will prove to be money well spent.