5 Players Liverpool released too soon With news that Liverpool look set to release young Adam Morgan for free, it is worth a look to see some of the players that Liverpool have released in seasons gone by that the club may have been better off keeping for a season or two more to see how they develop. It is always a difficult situation when a club releases or sells a player. There may be other mitigating reasons at that time as to why the player has to leave. But here are five players I feel the club should have hung onto for a bit longer and seen how they do in the Red shirt: 1) Nuri Sahin Brendan Rodgers signed Nuri Sahin on loan from Real Madrid having beaten off Arsenal for his signature. This was seen as a major signing for the Reds as Sahin was highly regarded across Europe and failed to make his mark at Real Madrid due to injury. Joining Liverpool was meant to be his chance to show everyone again how good he is. Sahin had a decent start to his Reds career as he managed to score three goals in the space of four days. What Sahin really needed was more game time to build up his fitness but the pace of the Premier League seemed to be a bit too much for him. It was said that Sahin would have done better playing in Gerrard’s position but there was no way he was ever going to displace the Liverpool captain. But now with Gerrard getting on in age, it may have been wise to hold onto Sahin for longer and let him eventually become Gerrard’s successor as he is still only 25-years old. But alas in January 2013 he was loaned to his first club, Borussia Dortmund, for the remainder of the season. After returning to Germany Sahin played in fifteen Bundesliga matches in the second half of the 2012/13 season, scoring three times. He also appeared three times in the Champions League as Dortmund progressed to the Wembley final. Had Sahin stayed on a bit longer at Liverpool he could have adjusted to the pace and physicality of the Premier League and hopefully turned into a star. He certainly possesses the technical ability to do so. 2) Gabriel Paletta Remember him? Paletta starred for the Argentinian under-20 team, that won the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship, alongside starlets such as Lionel Messi and Sergio Aguero. He had come a long way in one year, having established himself at Banfield, a small club in the greater Buenos Aires. The Argentinean centre-back moved from Banfield to Anfield when he left his homeland to join Rafa Benitez at Liverpool in the summer of 2006, but he struggled with the pace of the English game. Paletta scored his only Liverpool goal in a 4-3 League Cup win over Reading, but had a woeful display in a 6-3 defeat to Arsenal later in the same competition and that seemed to damage his Liverpool career and he left Anfield after only three Premier League games to join Boca Juniors in 2007. He helped Boca reach the semi-final of the 2008 Copa Libertadores, where the Buenos Aires club lost 5-3 on aggregate to the Brazilians from Fluminense. In July 2010 Paletta left for Italian Serie A club Parma. Paletta was clearly more ready now than four years ago to leave his homeland. He has now become a regular fixture in the heart of Parma’s defence making 60 appearances in two years. Paletta joined Liverpool when he clearly was not ready for the move to Europe. It may have been wise for Liverpool to loan him back to Argentina instead of selling him, so that he could have come back when he was ready. This is a clear sign that at times, young players are signed too early. 3) Emiliano Insua Insua, was a very talented left back who may have just been thrown into the deep end a bit too early in his time at Liverpool. He was brought initially on loan from Boca Juniors in January 2007. Seven months later Liverpool made the transfer permanent. The poor form of Riise and the constant injuries to Fabio Aurelio meant that Insua played a lot of games (44 appearances) in the 2009/10 season and he was only 20-years old then. Insua was looking set to be Liverpool’s long term left back until Roy Hodgson arrived at the club and opted to sign Paul Konchesky for the left back position, which turned out be one of Liverpool’s worst ever signings. Insua was loaned to Galatasaray and then a permanent switch to Sporting Lisbon followed. Now Insua is playing his trade and Spanish club Atletico Madrid. Hodgson signing Konchesky was a huge blow to Insua’s time at Liverpool. If he had been kept Insua for a bit longer, Hodgson himself would have seen that Konchesky was terrible and maybe recalled Insua into the side again. 4) Tom Ince Tom Ince came through the Liverpool Academy but never got his chance in the Liverpool first team, something probably similar to what will happen to Adam Morgan. Ince has now gone on to become one of the brightest prospects in English football as he is playing his trade under his father at Blackpool. In the summer Ince was linked with a move back to Liverpool and who knows, he may join Liverpool again one day. The Ince scenario is tricky because he left Liverpool without getting a chance in the first team and he is only playing well now because he has had a run of regular games at Blackpool. It is difficult for these young players coming up through the Academy to get a shot in the first team and thus we stand to lose some talent that we may never have realised. 5) Jonjo Shelvey Jonjo left Liverpool in the summer to join Swansea having been signed from Charlton in May 2010. Shelvey showed a lot of promise and potential during his time at Liverpool but never got a long enough run in the side as he seemed to be very erratic in his form. But considering that Jonjo is only 21-years old, he was not bad for his age and certainly would have improved had he stayed on at Liverpool. Now at Swansea he is getting a lot more game time and his qualities are starting to show. With Liverpool looking a bit thin in central midfield this season, still having a player like Jonjo in the squad would have helped. ourkop
Posted on: Tue, 19 Nov 2013 19:00:00 +0000
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