The Agent of Liverpool attacker Iago Aspas has dismissed speculation that the struggling Spaniard is set to leave Anfield this summer.
Aspas has played just 161 minutes of football in 2014 (an average of 35 minutes per month) and despite the fact it's clear he'll never be a regular starter for the Reds, his agent, Jose Rodriguez Baster, insists that he is 'happy' at Anfield.
Discussing Aspas's future yesterday, Baster told GianlucaDiMarzio.com.
"He wants to play more, but there is no possibility of Iago returning to Spain. He has a four-year contract with Liverpool and is happy to be at Liverpool".
Baster's comments seem to contradict Aspas's own intentions. In an interview last week, the Spaniard made it clear he wants to leave Liverpoll. He told FTBpro:
"I'm not 20 years old anymore, I can't go on loan and explode. The best would be to transfer to another club. This is the hardest part. I used to play almost all the matches and I arrived here playing much less. This is the tough side of football."
Baster's comments are clearly damage limitation, and an attempt to take the focus away from Aspas's comments about leaving. Privately, though, I'm sure the £9m striker wants to leave.
Aspas - along with Alberto, Ilori, Borini, Assaidi, Sahin, and Moses - is part of a £35m collective outlay (by Brendan Rodgers) on signings who've made zero impact for Liverpool.
The Reds should've signed a young, hungry, inexperienced striker in the 18-21 range; someone happy to play a reduced role, whilst learning from SAS throughout the season. That way, the club would (probably) have a developing asset on its hands right now, rather than an unhappy player who wants out.
Why would Aspas want to stay, anyway? Yes, it's Liverpool, but surely he has more ambition that to just sit on the bench every season? He's 27, and in the prime of his career - Aspas should be playing regular football. Choosing to stay in the current circumstances will show a staggering lack of personal ambition (IMO).
Having said that, Liverpool may have no choice but to keep Aspas for another year. Right now, the clubs stands to make another financial loss, as I can't see any club paying £9m plus for a player who clearly can't cut it in the Premier League. The Reds may have to give Aspas some games in the first part of next season and hope he plays well enough to inflate his value, and then sell in the January transfer window.
Author: Jaimie K
Aspas has played just 161 minutes of football in 2014 (an average of 35 minutes per month) and despite the fact it's clear he'll never be a regular starter for the Reds, his agent, Jose Rodriguez Baster, insists that he is 'happy' at Anfield.
Discussing Aspas's future yesterday, Baster told GianlucaDiMarzio.com.
"He wants to play more, but there is no possibility of Iago returning to Spain. He has a four-year contract with Liverpool and is happy to be at Liverpool".
Baster's comments seem to contradict Aspas's own intentions. In an interview last week, the Spaniard made it clear he wants to leave Liverpoll. He told FTBpro:
"I'm not 20 years old anymore, I can't go on loan and explode. The best would be to transfer to another club. This is the hardest part. I used to play almost all the matches and I arrived here playing much less. This is the tough side of football."
Baster's comments are clearly damage limitation, and an attempt to take the focus away from Aspas's comments about leaving. Privately, though, I'm sure the £9m striker wants to leave.
Aspas - along with Alberto, Ilori, Borini, Assaidi, Sahin, and Moses - is part of a £35m collective outlay (by Brendan Rodgers) on signings who've made zero impact for Liverpool.
The Reds should've signed a young, hungry, inexperienced striker in the 18-21 range; someone happy to play a reduced role, whilst learning from SAS throughout the season. That way, the club would (probably) have a developing asset on its hands right now, rather than an unhappy player who wants out.
Why would Aspas want to stay, anyway? Yes, it's Liverpool, but surely he has more ambition that to just sit on the bench every season? He's 27, and in the prime of his career - Aspas should be playing regular football. Choosing to stay in the current circumstances will show a staggering lack of personal ambition (IMO).
Having said that, Liverpool may have no choice but to keep Aspas for another year. Right now, the clubs stands to make another financial loss, as I can't see any club paying £9m plus for a player who clearly can't cut it in the Premier League. The Reds may have to give Aspas some games in the first part of next season and hope he plays well enough to inflate his value, and then sell in the January transfer window.
Author: Jaimie K
It's true. At 27, Aspas is at his prime, but then again, Aspas is the epitome of mediocrity. So, even in his prime, he is simply mediocre at best.
ReplyDelete'yes, it's liverpool'
ReplyDeletel o l
Oh how far we've come...
We'll let Atletico have him and Alberto in a straight swap for Costa. Seems like a fair deal to me
ReplyDeleteDiego Simeone has already hinted that Diego Costa is on his way to Chelsea.
ReplyDeleteIts not fair to say he's mediocre. Our two main strikers are just too classy for Aspas. He could play a lot more next season, and he has the right mentality. If he wants to stay, let him stay and fight for game time.
ReplyDeleteWhen all is said and done, at least Aspas can be credited with an assist in the first game of the year, partly responsible for 2 very valuable points right now. So no hard feelings, didn't work, but at least he tried.
ReplyDeleteHe never really got much of a chance, not once did he get a full 90 minutes. His first game showed promise, and even though he assisted the opening goal, made lots of good runs, and probably should have scored, he was subbed off for Sterling, after that he had a little over 4 halves to show his worth before Suarez came back. He's probably better than most give him credit for, but not a huge loss if he doesn't get time. There's cover in the offense.
Next season maybe he has a chance to play a bit part in cup games, maybe come on as a sub, if it works great, if not he can continue his career elsewhere in January.
Interesting how it is for positions that there is cover for, or the tolerance for poor perfmances for some positions than others. Johnson can have a stinker, or a few stinkers in a row and never get subbed off, Hendo can have the odd bad game, but never go off. These are guys who are fully integrated into the team, to fully judge Aspas at least let him bed in properly - kinda like Ericsoon, didn't set the world alight at first, but is doing well now.
a swap deal involving him and Antonie Griezmann would be dream
ReplyDeleteSimple his agent know Aspas makes him more money not playing Liverpool than playing anywhere other than RM or Barcelona in Spain.
ReplyDeleteChelsea Schmelsea - no player worth their salt would want to play for that boring bunch.
ReplyDeleteAbramovich has very deep pockets and normally gets what he wants.
ReplyDeleteTell that to Celta Vigo after he was absolutely instrumental in keeping them up last year in La Liga.
ReplyDeleteits down to the money again im afraid
ReplyDeleteJK, what's your cutoff time for determining when a player has made zero impact on LFC? I asked you before but it probably got lost in the conversation. I don't think you would have claimed that Alberto and Ilori were money wasted and had made zero impact on LFC the day after they'd been signed, so how long does someone get before you consign them to the scrap heap?
ReplyDeleteI'll reply to this later. Out at the moment.
ReplyDeleteSent from Samsung Mobile
Wow, i didnt realise that he is 27. If thats the case, he needs to move on, hes not going to improve much, IMO. I guess he might get more games seeing as how we are in the CL now, but I think we need another really top quality striker.
ReplyDeleteTrue but think of all the players that have been instrumental in keeping crystal palace up then think if you'd like to see them playing for Liverpool. Grant holt kept Norwich up 2 seasons ago, Danny graham did the same at Swansea etc. vital players for those teams but nowhere near good enough for us
ReplyDeleteIlori was excellent against barca the other night. I think he'll turn out to be money well spent
ReplyDeleteRight on...we bought him when we already had 4 senior CB's so he was always going to go on loan and not be expected to make an impact anytime soon. When his time comes for us I think he'll do well...him and Sakho together for many years we can hope.
ReplyDeleteThe player still needs to want to go there though
ReplyDeleteMy point was geared more towards the idea of him being mediocre at best.
ReplyDeleteDoesn't mean that he is good enough to compete in the Prem... but he obviously raised his game last season for Celta.
Might it have something to do with the concept of "I'd rather be warming the bench at a top team that can win trophies and CL rather than be playing 90 minutes at some crap team", best example is Hernandez at man u over the past few seasons.
ReplyDeleteWould still love to get your 2 cents on this one when you get a chance.
ReplyDelete