Reds youth proves investment needed elsewhere AS with many ‘gossip’ sections of websites and newspapers over the past decade or so, Liverpool are always linked with a number of players in the first couple of days of the new week. The names ranged from the familiar to the unknown but one worrying trends appears to have developed, in that many of those linked are surprisingly youthful. On Tuesday morning, Liverpool – and Spurs, how surprising! – were linked with 21 year old Barca forward Sergi Roberto. A quick glance at the youngsters career at Barca so far shows a handful appearances and a couple of goals. So is there much justification for the £15 + million price tag? Obviously not, but he’s a product of the Barca youth system and, much like products of Manchester United’s youth systems (despite the apparent lack of quality), that means you pay a premium that you wouldn’t elsewhere. Take former Sevilla youth product currently at Liverpool, Luis Alberto. The youngster played barely 30 games for Barcelona’s B side in the Segunda Division and Liverpool forked out almost £7 million for the attacking midfielder who has not even played one complete game. It is not just Spanish youngsters that Liverpool have spent a lot of money on in recent season either, with around £25 million spent on Joe Allen and Fabio Borini in Rodgers first summer. One of which is currently struggling on loan at Sunderland, the other who can barely get a game, when not injured. Tiago Ilori is another example, with a transfer fee of £7 million and not even a sniff of first team action as yet. Of course, compared to Allen and Borini, it’s early days yet but for a club such as our own these fees are not what you would call ‘loose change’, and sooner or later we’d probably like to see some kind of return on our investments. This is why I’m finding it slightly concerning that our primary transfer targets for January are a handful more young players, with Will Hughes and one or two of Barca’s youngsters appearing to be the recurring names. As I wrote a few weeks ago in an article regarding the Derby youngster, Will Hughes, I am never against spending money for a genuine top quality youngster but given the clubs’ current financial situation and the fact that much of our spending in recent years has been highly dependent on raising fund through reducing the wage bill and clearing out players surplus to requirements. And if the performance against Arsenal, the first real quality side we’ve played this season, is anything to go by then Liverpool need at least one or two experienced and established players that can fit straight into the side and make an immediate difference. Given that FSG have just seen the Red Sox win their 3rd World Series in less a decade using their ‘Moneyball’ system, it is unlikely that they will veer from this any time soon but surely they must see that the current first team squad is relatively healthy. What’s missing is a couple of extra top-class players to compliment Suarez, Sturridge and Coutinho. Our youth sides are more than healthy, with incredible talents coming through and getting first team opportunities and impressing week after week both at home and abroad, so there is little need to continue adding to their ranks when it is the first team that needs to be bolstered. David Tyrerlive4liverpool
Posted on: Wed, 06 Nov 2013 20:40:01 +0000
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