6 Dec 2012

The 'Emperor' to Anfield? LFC chase €14m star Wenger hailed as a 'genius'...

During the January 2012 transfer window, Japanese star Keisuke Honda was desperate for a move away from CSKA Honda, and after deadline-day transfer to Lazio collapsed, the midfielder publicly expressed his disappointment over the failure to secure a move. Honda's disappointment seems to have affected his form for CSKA this season, and with the January transfer window looming, a the 26-year old could finally get his wish to move to a different club.

A host of clubs will inevitably be interested in Honda, and according to The Daily Star (and several other international sources), Liverpool are reportedly lining up a £12m (€14.7m) deal for the player, who has been linked with a move to Anfield several times over the past three years.

After losing out on the move to Lazio in January, Honda - nicknamed 'Keizer Keisuke' (Emperor Keisuke) during his time in Holland, said:

"If moaning about it would get me a move I would have a moan. I waited until the end of the transfer window and I could have gone to the Italian championship. I was hoping for a better future"

Marvellously-monikered CSKA coach Leonid Slutsky is growing impatient with Honda this season, and he recently complained publicly about the Japan International's 'anonymous' performances and lack of form. He told the Russian Press:

"Honda can decide the result of a match on his own, but unfortunately games like that with a performance from him haven’t happened. Today we expected a certain contribution from him, but it never came"

Honda may be out of form but he's still managed to score 7 goals in 18 games for CSKA this season, a return that the likes of Stewart Downing and Jordan Henderson can only dream about achieving.

Arsene Wenger is a huge fan of Honda, and he lavished praised on the player after the 2010 World Cup. He raved:

"When they get the ball they can give it to Honda – and the magic starts. When they get that genius Honda playing up front, he had shown what a top class player he is. For me he’s the best performer of the competition so far"

It's clear that Honda needs to a new challenge to reinvigorate his career, but would he be a good fit for Liverpool? None of the club's current midfielders are scoring goals regularly, so an injection of creativity could be just what's needed.

Having said that, with 27 goals in his last 99 games, Honda is hardly prolific, and there are other attacking midfielders out there with a much better creative return for a similar amount of money.

Personally, I would love to see Honda at Anfield. He's an exciting flair player, and Liverpool need more of them.

Worth a bid?



Jaimie Kanwar


23 comments:

  1. Heard the same for the last ten transfer windows....at this stage the only Honda Liverpool are interested in is a two litre Honda Accord. !!!

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  2. Love to see this guy at Anfield. Quality player and would suit Standard Chartered,would suit LFC and our sponsors.

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  3. I think he would do well for Liverpool, got a good feeling. But most likely LFC are not even interested in him.

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  4. We should have bought him before he went to Russia.

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  5. another window another link to honda.
    Has anyone seen a report floating around of liverpool linked with danny rose? interesting
    dont think i'd be to interested in him.

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  6. This is a stupid article. I suggest that instead of writing a piece of fiction, the writer should do a RESEARCH and make effort to provide more factual information.

    Honda has been brilliant this season. It is not difficult to find stats to show this. Honda has been a vital cog of the team. The reason why CSKA is on top of the table is thanks to him.

    He is not desperate to move to a club that is mediocre, and does not have CL, EL challenges. He had a number of very good offers in summer, but decided to stay.

    This article just singled out a match CSKA lost. Slutsuky's comment was misconstrued. It was made after the match when Honda did not play in his normal playmaker's role. And he was badly affected by the drastic change of the weather from nearly 40c in Oman, playing for a WC qualifying for Japan, and to -5c of Moscow, playing for a Russian League match. Slutsuky was unable to count on Honda as the coach on the pitch as Honda was sick all week before that match and only trained a day before the match.

    I am not suggesting you are the source of information contrary to facts that can be easily obtained by stats, but it is puzzling, even malicious.

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  7. nice shout, him and klaas jan would be great additions.

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  8. nice transfer gossip...most likely BR will spend less than 15m trying to get Studridge n loan another young guy....tats all v got. Another mid table season.

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  9. Dude I drop in and out of this site once or twice a month to hear about the games and reaction but it is ALL about speculation on who we might eventually if the price is right and his boots are laced correctly unless the board won't agree or we missed the boat, buy! WTF dude?

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  10. He's above average for sure, but Wengers praise is certainly OTT. I would only offer 6-7 million max, otherwise, I'd go for someone else.

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  11. I've been saying this ever since his first season at VVV. Woul love it. Just love it! By the way, Honda is another one of those players that when he was suggested for us years back, most people would say "it's just the Dutch league" about.

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  12. Don`t see any justification in the piece to warrant the headline `Liverpool chase £14m star..`; why don`t you just write it as your thought for the day instead of trying to pretend there is any real substance?

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  13. YOUR BORING KANWAAAR !!!! GO AWAY

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  14. He is an immense player, instead of looking at his Russian record(a place he has hardly wanted to play at for a year and a half now) look at his record for the national team, look at his CSKA performance against Real Madrid, where Ronaldo was 'wowed' by him, he can perform much better, so anyone calling him 'above average' is clearly just ignorant of his abilities.

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  15. Love to see this guy at Anfield. Very similar to Kagawa but a bit more cultured.

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  16. Classy player. To be fair on him, last season was disrupted by injury and he doesn't always play up front (the likes of Doumbia, Love, Necid have played up front during his time at the club). When on-form, he is very good to watch.

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  17. Another story plucked from the air J , pathetic

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  18. Spot on! Great player 4 the Sponsors. No q about that. Average, but decent. Ill pick him.

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  19. Dont give up your day job !!

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  20. We need a striker not a attack mid..

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  21. Sound...Will continue doing the comedy circuit then !!!

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  22. oh, erm, well if that's what you do then really you should give up the day job !!!

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  23. Exactly what midfielders offer better return? His goal tally is solid, and he is very technical player. I think he would thrive under Liverpool's current system.

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