12 Jul 2014

'I learned a lot': Emre Can hails €60m superstar duo for 'helping' his 'development'. Good for LFC?

According to Reds legend Sami Hyypia, new Liverpool signing Emre Can is a 'dynamic' midfielder who has all the attributes to have a 'great career' at Liverpool, and having played alongside some big names at Bayern Munich, the German clearly has the pedigree to prove Hyypia right. Can admits that he's inspired by some of his former team-mates, and in a recent interview, he named four players who've had a big influence on his development

When asked this week about his biggest football inspirations, Can hailed the the influence of Frank Ribery and Bastien Schweinsteiger, and also praised two other top-class European stars. He told LFC.com:

"In my position especially, I also learned a lot from Javi Martinez and Luiz Gustavo [combined cost: €60m]. They helped my development."

Playing alongside the world's best players can only be a god thing for up-and-coming young players, and if Can - as he suggests - has 'learned a lot' from the likes of Schweinsteiger, Martinez, and Gustavo, then Liverpool Rodgers may have unearthed another Coutinho-like gem.

Hyypia certainly seems to think so. In a November interview with Kicker magazine, the Finn - who signed Can for Bayer Leverkusen - outlined six of the midfielder's best qualities:

"He [Can] has everything needed to play in many positions, and he is well on the way to becoming a very good player. He is incredible with the ball; has great technique, and he is strong in one-on-one situations. He plays better offensively, but he can defend well, and that aspect of his game should not be underestimated"

Sounds good, but Sami tempered his praise with some words of caution about Can's composure/end product. He noted:

"He still has much to learn, though. He needs more patience when making decisions, but he's smart enough to learn that."

So, to summarise:

* Able to play in many positions.
* Great technique.
* Strong in one-on-one situations.
* Comfortable on the ball.
* Better as an attacker.
* Can defend well.

Sounds great. Most of Brendan Rodgers' mid-range signings have made zero impact at LFC, but hopefully Can will buck that particular trend.

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15 comments:

  1. Jensen Huddleston11:13 pm, July 12, 2014

    I hope so but have my doubts. I just hope we sign somebody top class. I see nobody linked with that label imo. I think we will have better squad depth overall but not sure we have game changers coming in.

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  2. The way the Official LFC site has been going on about Can seems to suggest they also believe he could be a hidden ace in the pack. he has got a lot more coverage than the other signings unles of course if it is because he is the only new signing who has reported for duty

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  3. Patrick Ó Fearghasa12:37 am, July 13, 2014

    Personally I think Can will be in the Sturridge & Coutinho bracket of Rodgers signings. Only time will tell, but he looks like he has everything to be a good player, pace, strength, skill, competitiveness, confidence. We certainly need legs in midfield with Gerrard playing there. If Can was there beside Gerrard last season, it's very possible he would've caught up to Ba after Gerrard slipping because Can runs like a greyhound.

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  4. Alexis Sanchez girlfriend is a Art-sy Fartsy type. Laia Grassi is a Spanish art director and designer. Kinda explains her wanting to be near the home of 'Hipsters' and 'fashionistas'. Why couldn't Sanchez slap and tickle a girl who had a passion for the 'Beatles'!!!

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  5. Can we do a double swoop for Thomas Muller and Marco Reus to make it a hat-trick of Germans at the club? Also Daley Blind seems a good left back at the world cup, though it's always risky to buy any player based on one good show at the world cup. I'm seriously worried about the money from LS's sale. Can only pray hard and see who's up for BR/Ian Arye/whosoever transfer committee to grab.

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  6. aqueel siddique3:03 am, July 13, 2014

    Haha it is worrying knowing BR and Ian Ayre have £130+ million to spend. Rumours are Liverpool are linked with Jay Rodriguez, while we're there getting him why not buy Clyn, Lovren, Schniederlin (however you spell it). I mean like cmon why not just buy the whole of Southampton. With that money who would you buy? JK maybe an article on who you would buy or like to see at Liverpool?

    With the 60 million I would've bought Mascherano for 10-20 million,
    Lallana for 25 million,
    Lambert for 3-5 million.
    Then with the remaining 10-20 million + 70 million from Suarez's sale,
    20-30 million for Ricardo Rodriguez,
    40-50 million for Di Maria,
    7-10 million for Remy
    And after selling a few players
    Hummels or Lovren for 20-25 million.
    Though obviously this would/will never happen unfortunately.

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  7. None of his other mid range signings were playing every week for a champions league in a highly competitive league. I'm optimistic about this guy

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  8. Just a gut feeling that LFC will over-pay for Dejan Lovren, yes...overpay again in which we have already done so for Lallana. That's the capacity of the those people in charge of LFC's transfer business anyway.

    In Reus and Di Maria, I think Reus is a more realistic target for us, though it is still very much unrealistic in itself. Mats Hummels...of course I won't mind a quadruple swoop of Germans for the club, we already have 1.



    Ultimately, we still have to deliver more consistently good results on pitch. then we will be more attractive to star players, I guess. A rather chicken-and-egg issue here I'm talking about actually.

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  9. I expect him to be the primary backup for Gerrard and there is no way Stevie will play all matches this season, he'll need to be managed carefully. Gerrard is also the perfect player to learn more from, his attitude in training and how he approaches each game will be another great benchmark. I think the path is clear for Can: emulate Gerrard and ultimately take his spot away from him. He'll have chance to put in good performances but most of all he'll have to impress Rodgers during training, show that he is learning and improving all the time. If he does that then he'll be in the team, no question. I have a much better feeling this time around. Can will be used in his preferred position, he has a clear path to becoming a first team regular, a great player to learn from and a manager who rewards young players if they are good enough.

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  10. Theycallmemrburt5:25 am, July 13, 2014

    I think this lad will give us the energy we clearly missed in midfield when Henderson got suspended. We had no-one who could do Gerrards running with Lucas filling in because Lucas jogs or walks. I have big hopes for the Henderson and Can link up with Gerrard behind them. If Henderson does get injured or suspended we'll still have pace, legs and quality in there. Can is no defensive mid in my opinion from the footage I've seen of him, he could go on to be better than Viera because he has everything.

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  11. Theycallmemrburt5:29 am, July 13, 2014

    he would have needed to teleport like Dhalsim to catch Ba but I agree he has everything.

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  12. Theycallmemrburt5:38 am, July 13, 2014

    Players don't want to move to the city of Liverpool. Its the harsh truth. It isn't multicultural enough. Players think about their wives and girlfriends fitting in and making friends and usually the other half feels comfortable with women with similar backgrounds and language. They dont want to be limited to just the wives of other players. I still remember Masherano saying,



    "I don't do much stuff in my free time, that's the truth," he said.

    "What kills me about living in Liverpool is that there are only two Argentinians here with me, Emiliano Insúa and Maxi Rodríguez. Insúa and I live in a private neighbourhood. He lives in one tower and Ilive in the other. There are 15 metres between us and we used to look at each other through the window.


    "Sometimes [Pablo] Zabaleta comes from Manchester but there is no way Carlos Tevez comes here. If I want to see him, I have to go to his place and knock on his door. He doesn't like to leave his home. So during the winter, during those four or five months, I have to stay at home all day with my family.

    "I have no problem living in Liverpool, but I think my wife and daughters deserve to enjoy every day to the full and live their lives – but they have to be at home all day. My wife doesn't speak a word of English, so she depends 100% on me. I live here with them. That's my world, that's my life."

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  13. We'll be a solid British team. With nothing exciting going on. Like Swansea.

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  14. I don't doubt the creditability of what those ex-players have said. But we gotta work to the best within our capacity to make the club an attractive destination for star players since we cannot relocate the club to a more attractive city geographically.

    Producing consistently good results in EPL and qualify for UCL regularly is critical for the progress of LFC. Having all that can get the club better tv deals, UCL prize money, sponsorships and eventually money for a bigger stadium. With more revenue, the club will be able to pay bigger fees coupled with better wages for star players to compensate for the lack of attractiveness of living in the city of Liverpool.

    Right now the main problem I can see is that those whosoever people conducting player transfer activities for the club are not doing a good job. Constantly overpaying for players with 1 or 2 seasons of good football with mid-level clubs is about all they can do at the moment. If this is the way the people running the club is defining progress, then it's just tough luck for both the club and it's supporters.

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  15. I was nearly in tears after reading what miserable conditions these poor multi millionaire footballers are forced to live in. There should be a charity set up to help them integrate.

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