After months of scouting, Liverpool are reportedly set to move for Borussia Monchengladbach star Granit Xhaka.
According to multiple reports this week:
* Liverpool are planning a January bid for the 21-year old midfielder.
* Reds scouts have tracked Xhaka for quite a while.
* Borussia Moenchengladbach are willing to sell for £20m
Liverpool were linked with Xhaka during Kenny Dalglish's second spell in charge.
At that time, the Swiss midfielder was still at Basle, and Damien Commoli reportedly received 'positive reports from scouts' detailing Xhaka’s 'superb' performances.
Xhaka is highly regarded in Germany, but it seems that he has his heart set on a move to La Liga. In a recent interview, he enthused:
“On TV it looks like Ronaldo does everything with so much ease and I want to see what’s it’s like to play against him,”
Xhaka has also experienced friction with Gladbach boss Lucien Favre, and in November, he told reporters:
"In the beginning I really did not understand what he [Favre] wanted. I know how much value he places on the details, but in that respect, Favre is so extreme"
There is one major issue with Xhaka, however: discipline on the pitch.
* Last season, he picked up FOURTEEN yellow cards (!)
* This season, the midfielder has received 7 yellows in 13 games so far.
21 yellow cards in less than one-and-a-half seasons? And LFC fans think Lucas is bad at picking up bookings! That wouldn't fly at LFC, and with the overt physicality of English football, it's highly likely Xhaka pick up suspensions in the Premier League.
Favre is aware of the problem, and he's trying his best to solve it. He told Focus.de:
"I'm doing my best to change aspects of Granit's combative behavior on the pitch. He is making progress , but it will take a while."
Xhaka is certainly highly regarded in Switzerland. In 2012, Basel coach Thorsten Fink raved.
"Xherdan Shaqiri is the best talent in Switzerland...after Granit Xhaka"
Switzerland boss Ottmar Hitzfeld has also labelled Xhaka the 'new Bastien Schweinsteiger'.
Xhaka may be a good player, but £20m for a comparatively inexperienced 21-year old? Liverpool definitely need new midfielders, but in my view, that amount of money should go towards a player with more experience.
Author: Jaimie K
According to multiple reports this week:
* Liverpool are planning a January bid for the 21-year old midfielder.
* Reds scouts have tracked Xhaka for quite a while.
* Borussia Moenchengladbach are willing to sell for £20m
Liverpool were linked with Xhaka during Kenny Dalglish's second spell in charge.
At that time, the Swiss midfielder was still at Basle, and Damien Commoli reportedly received 'positive reports from scouts' detailing Xhaka’s 'superb' performances.
Xhaka is highly regarded in Germany, but it seems that he has his heart set on a move to La Liga. In a recent interview, he enthused:
“On TV it looks like Ronaldo does everything with so much ease and I want to see what’s it’s like to play against him,”
Xhaka has also experienced friction with Gladbach boss Lucien Favre, and in November, he told reporters:
"In the beginning I really did not understand what he [Favre] wanted. I know how much value he places on the details, but in that respect, Favre is so extreme"
There is one major issue with Xhaka, however: discipline on the pitch.
* Last season, he picked up FOURTEEN yellow cards (!)
* This season, the midfielder has received 7 yellows in 13 games so far.
21 yellow cards in less than one-and-a-half seasons? And LFC fans think Lucas is bad at picking up bookings! That wouldn't fly at LFC, and with the overt physicality of English football, it's highly likely Xhaka pick up suspensions in the Premier League.
Favre is aware of the problem, and he's trying his best to solve it. He told Focus.de:
"I'm doing my best to change aspects of Granit's combative behavior on the pitch. He is making progress , but it will take a while."
Xhaka is certainly highly regarded in Switzerland. In 2012, Basel coach Thorsten Fink raved.
"Xherdan Shaqiri is the best talent in Switzerland...after Granit Xhaka"
Switzerland boss Ottmar Hitzfeld has also labelled Xhaka the 'new Bastien Schweinsteiger'.
Xhaka may be a good player, but £20m for a comparatively inexperienced 21-year old? Liverpool definitely need new midfielders, but in my view, that amount of money should go towards a player with more experience.
Author: Jaimie K
What I also read from other articles was that BR sees him as a heir to Gerrard at Liverpool and is trying to bring him to mold him into his shape and what not.
ReplyDeleteI really hope we add more proven players in better areas than picking up cards. What is going with Aogo and Sidney Sam? I think they're two players who can help us get top 4 and are realistically possible with that guy from Russian league.
At that kind of fee we need to have more proven talents.
ReplyDeleteSam is off to Shalke I believe according to reports.
ReplyDeletewouldnt make sense at all - the move to schalke would be a step backwards, a move to the PL could be much more attractive :)
ReplyDeletethis story is 100% made-up... the only person who would pay 20m for xhaka is damien comoli, hes average at best, not consistent enough. 20m what a joke?
ReplyDeleteIt doesn't sound right to me either, but these kinds of lateral and seemingly backwards moves within the domestic league are much more common in the European leagues.
ReplyDeleteAs @DerBaumMann says, PL & Anfield is much more attractive from his POV.
ReplyDeleteI reckon 10m tops would be the right for him because Hughes seems much more better to me, but this guy could add titanium lol.
ReplyDeletelet´s hope so :)
ReplyDeleteAlso, the Erkin guy from Fenerbache has amazing attacking stats so far with 9 assists and 1 goal in 12 games. Even though the Turkish league is nowhere near top 5 leagues that's still those are formidable stats for a full-back, more than any of our midfielders lol.
ReplyDeleteThe negatives: he'd take time to develop a game suitable for English football because like lots of others who struggle, like Sahin for us most recently, he needs too much time on the ball.
ReplyDeleteOn the plus side: it would be good to see more players with truly outstanding personal grooming habits in the premier league.
What a pathetic video.
ReplyDeleteI say this one wont happen eventually.
Not sure why if Liverpool are interested why they wouldnt have got him from a couple of seasons back it was no secret how good he was then.
ReplyDeleteHe would have come a lot cheaper and been given more time to develop a his game to playing EPL.
Gerrard picked up his share of cards at that age. So did Keane. It's about becoming smarter. I remember Davids once going a full season at Juventus without picking up a single card. Which is amazing if you consider how aggressive he was as a player. 20 million is a lot though. More evolved DM are available for that money.
ReplyDeleteWouldn't Nzonzi or Diame be better choices considering they have PL experience and definitely cheaper than 20 million.
ReplyDeleteWell, we can say they can be cheaper gambles just like other players being brought. If we want to keep Suarez at LFC we need to make signings that make statements and also add quality to the squad like Ozil did for Arse.
ReplyDeleteIf we want to sign a DM then it needs to be Matic or Alex Song amd if we want to go for cheaper options then we shouldn't see further than Mulumbu.