29 Apr 2015

I'm Leaving: 'Outstanding' £6m-a-year LFC star confirms he'll quit Anfield this summer unless a new contract is offered

Last month, Liverpool legend John Aldridge suggested that the departure of Glen Johnson this summer will be 'best for all parties', and according to Johnson himself, he's almost certain to leave Anfield at the end of the season.

In January, Johnson revealed that he'd held transfer 'talks' with overseas clubs', and when asked last night whether he's leaving in the summer, the defender told Sky Sports:

"I would have thought so - I haven't got a contract"

On whether he thinks the contract situation is going to change:

"I don't think so but we have to wait and see."

Brendan Rodgers claims that Johnson - reportedly on £120k-a-week [£6m-a-year] - is 'one of the best full-backs in the world', but if that's genuinely the case, why are Liverpool not offering him a bumper new contract?

The answer is simple: Not everyone at Anfield is as deluded as Rodgers when it comes to player assessment, and I suspect John Henry at al do not share the manager's view that Johnson is an 'outstanding' player.

Anyone of sound mind can see that Johnson is *not* one of the best full-backs in the world, and he continues to have very little positive impact on Liverpool's results.

LFC fans clearly do not share Rodgers' enthusiasm. I recently conducted a site poll asking fans whether Liverpool should keep or sell Johnson, and a whopping 84% of participants voted for LFC to sell.

Like Lucas, and, to an extent, Steven Gerrard, Johnson is one of the last remaining relics of the Benitez era.

It's time to sweep away the past and move forward.

Author:


57 comments:

  1. If anyone is having any problems with the new site layout (formatting/loading problems etc), please replay to this comment with a detailed description (and screenshots if possible). Thanks!

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  2. in the words of kc and the sunshine band....


    please dont go, please dont go...
    please dont goooooo away, oh, oh ,oh.........

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  3. I bet the 16% who dont want him to go are his wife and kids......

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  4. Jaimie, has anyone told you , you really look like sylvester stalone....

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  5. If you leave me now, you take away the biggest part of me.... Wooooohooooooo....

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  6. buy Serge Aurier for Right Back for £10M. plenty of assists in his locker, including 2 at the world cup. and buy Bertrand for £15M who is a champions league winner and has had a fantastic season with southampton and in the PFA team of the year. we should be covered there if we can pull it off.


    we really need marquee players. if we can start with Kondogbia, Pedro Rodriguez and Memphis Depay, next year summer our prospects will look much better.

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  7. Agreed Johnson's time is up. If ever anyone has fleeced the club it's Glen Johnson. Cost a fortune in both transfer fee and wages and has been consistently rubbish

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  8. I think that's Arnold Schwarzenegger... :-)

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  9. Jock I'm baiting him....;-)

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  10. :-)...


    you got some big wooohooo ther bro....:-)

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  11. Jock at least we all knew he would be consistent at that......

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  12. Funny the way these things pan out, remember when we were being linked with Bertrand ourselves, most, including me, were pretty unenthused by the idea.
    Sometimes it obviously pays to take a punt, still rate Trippier myself, get him for a good price now and watch his value rise to silly amounts pretty quickly. - I know we need an emphasis on quality this summer but we will always need extra cover too.
    On the quality front, I've been thinking, would people object if we went in now for say Lacazette and knowingly paid over the odds, say 45/50 million, on the condition we want the deal done pronto. I think that's the kind of drastic action required myself and in the grand scheme of things 10/15 million is small potatoes if it means getting us back on track.

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  13. sometimes when looking at players I'm reminded of that smirnoff ad where you look through the bottle and evrything changes....


    bertrand, rubbish for chelsea, great for southampton.....we then go in for him and lo and behold - look through the smirnoff bottle - he's shi* again......


    remember the amazing bunch of standouts we bought over the last 3-4 seasons from teams under us - yep me neither - they crashed and burned....


    ...that flippi** bottle...grrrrr...

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  14. Like that analogy! we need to set about finding and smashing this pesky Smirnoff bottle from in front of Lovren and Lallana.

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  15. bro they probably need to drink it and have a pork pie while they're at it....


    ...old school baby.....old school...

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  16. So many times I have hear that Rodgers does not play Manquillo because he does not trust him. If he trusts GJ as he quite clearly does, how can somebody of that delusion be LFC manager.

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  17. for all his bravery and guts sometimes I think fear is a great leader when it come sto decision making.


    GJ is supposed to be experienced international 30 odd year old and Br is taking serious flack at present, so it only makes sense for him to put someone with experience over someone who will possibly/probably make mistakes leading to goals when so much sits on each game.....


    ...I'm just saying I can see it from both sides....

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  18. I would kind of like to see a match where Raheem had downed half a bottle of Jamaican Rum.
    Maybe the last game of the season should be similar to what we used to do last day of school, wear and do what you like, whilst possibly under the influence and probably have a fight with anyone you hadn't liked over the years.

    He shouldn't set fire to the kit afterwards though.

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  19. So you are saying that Rodgers is playing GJ so that he will be a scapegoat for the shortcomings for the team. Also, exactly what experience does GJ have? CL experience? Trophy experience? Sure he has PL experience but that was for Portsmouth mostly. He has been poor for 2 years now and the fact that we had 6 players better than him in that position says a lot.

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  20. nope, just better than manquillo.....in BR's eyes....

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  21. I'm not saying it's right but could be a kind of last ditch 'shop window' exercise, obviously not a successful one and with the caveat that I'm not trying to just excuse everything BR does - maybe there has been influence from above on who needs to get a game or two during the run in.

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  22. We had Kelly,Wisdom,Manquillo,Mclaughlin and Flannagan who could do a better job and he has already sold Kelly, Wisdom is about to be next. Mclaughlin is nowhere to be seen and Flanno's contract will most probably not be renewed and Manquillo will be sent back. How long can this go on for?

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  23. This shop window exercise has been going on for two years dont you think. it is not like BR only started him now but has been starting him whenever he is fit for the entire season and the one before.

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  24. Sid i understand your frustration, perhaps you misunderstand - I think GJ is an apathetic, pointless waste of energy on the pitch; he runs around headless and loses the ball in the most frustrating manner.


    In parrallel universes my boot has visited my tele umpteen time shwen he's been on screen such is my level of anguish....


    However, in this case I think BR is either A) panicking, or B) making sure we dont even get into europa, by picking GJ.


    A) the panik - he probably wanted the 'more secure' player so we wouldn't get beat 3-0 by hull because there's no promise manquillo wouldnt have totally capitulated under the pressure and scored three in our own net....


    B) and this is the clever bit - maybe BR knows just how sh** GJ is and played him just so we can concentrate only on winning the premier league next season without european distractions...

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  25. Actually, that's a very good point. I do think that with the amounts involved that an element of wheeling out your wares before the sale starts does happen, but you're totally right re GJ, he's been driving his price into the ground for far too long. I retract my previous thought, you are correct.

    Reading another comment you made reminds me, I will be very disappointed if Flanno doesn't get another chance.

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  26. Flanno is done mate. Just like Shelvey, Kelly, Suso and many others when fans do not pay attention. We sold all these guys when attention was on other things and no one cared. What was the justification of selling these players? For a manager who supposedly gives youth a chance, how many have actually gotten the chance. Only Sterling. Others have all been sold. BR is telling every one we have a young squad when he has sold all the youngsters.

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  27. Mate, my comment is not directed on recent games. It has been going on for 2 seasons. He was rubbish last season but because of our attack, no one cared and he has been as rubbish this season and has still been played. LB, CB or RB, he just always gets into the team. it just irks me that so many good, honest players have been sold whereas this guy who gets paid so much for so little always plays.

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  28. I'm afraid I really have to agree - he never really moved on from when we bought him - just stagnated at that mid-level...if we can even call it that.


    At the tim ether was such excitement for what could become of him he was relatively young and 'wow, if he improves he's gonna give danny alves there a real run for his money - we won't even rue that we missed out on buying him'


    But deep there in our minds if you think back - that wonderful thing, hindsight, - we never really believed he would did we?


    ...It was always hope rather than belief.....

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  29. I think that's just the nature of the premiership beast, not many do make it all the way to a permanent first team place.
    He did give Flanno his chance and he played well albeit not on his preferred side, I for one was certainly keeping tabs on his injury and hoping he'd get another shot. Ibe too has had his chance and looks likely to be heavily involved next season.
    He seems to make good on his word about giving young players a chance imo. Kelly and Shelvey just didn't make the grade and possibly Suso was more an attitude issue.
    If you compare us to other clubs, I guess they all will have players that have fallen by the way side when the fans wished otherwise.

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  30. Don't mean to be the bad guy here but Glen was pretty good his first couple of years with us. People laughed about how much we paid for him until he was skinning their players down the sidelines. He was tidy in the beginning, dropped in form but then had a good 12/13 season when he was moved to the left when Flanno broke through. Has been regarded the best English full back on numerous occasions since he joined us.


    He's woeful now and needs to leave but let's give the man credit where credit is due. He's never caused problems, always done what the manager has asked, and for a good amount of time was a valued member of the team - for that I salute him and wish him the best on his way out


    For the record I've wanted him gone for two seasons now, but a couple of terrible years shouldnt detract from what he's given us over the past 6 years

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  31. Kelly and Shelvey are more than good enough to make the grade. If you had a direct choice between Allen and Shelvey, who would you choose and similarly, between Kelly and GJ. Sterling also had an attitude problem and still does but that never stopped him so why Suso. Sure, players come and go but these were players better than the ones we have.

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  32. I bet you both caused a wry smile with your comments as he glanced towards the mirror.....

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  33. Or Manu supporters - though they could be both

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  34. Not meaning to be obscure but between Shelvey and Allen - my answer is I don't think either are good enough and can only see any sensible manager looking to make a profit on Allen at some stage, same answer re GJ and Kelly.
    That is not to imply I don't like any of them (maybe not GJ so much) and especially with Martin and Jonjo would of loved for them to have been successful and become a mainstay of the first team, sometimes these things just don't pan out. Who really knows with Suso, it's all conjecture and hearsay and regrettably it seems likely that Sterling is indeed heading the same way.

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  35. Kellly, Shelvey, Suso all moved on for how much? and replaced with over £200m worth of players and Rodgers latest comments of marquee signings and absolute joke.

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  36. JK,


    I just wanted to say that I really like the new site layout. In my view, it's a nice improvement.


    Thank You!

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  37. Here is my problem with it, though it is an old one..

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  38. Kelly moved on for £1.5m. Lovren signed for £20m.


    Suso moved on for £1m, Lallana cost us £25m.


    I would love to hear your opinion whether Kelly or Suso would have done any worse than Lovren and Lallana this season.


    Ripping up trees!

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  39. I shall oblige!! - this season maybe not no, but ultimately, I think both the L's are absolutely upgrades on the players you mention.
    I've still got very high hopes for Lallana in particular, he's a class player with a very good on pitch attitude and it seems he wants to be at the club for the best years of his career. He does seem to have suffered an amount of the 'big club stutters' that Jamie sometimes mentions but I'm confident he will come good for us.

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  40. I beg to differ.

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  41. As is your right sir!
    I wonder if we can find some common ground. How would you react to a headline tomorrow, along the lines of LFC pay £60million for Lacazette, deal done?

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  42. Orme, have you changed your mind about Rodgers?

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  43. If Lallana and Lovren at £45m combined are better than Kelly and Suso at £2.5m then clearly we are where we are this season!

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  44. I just explained Lovren & Lallana = £45m vs Kelly & Suso = £2.5m.


    Rodgers = "we lost 50 goals" = where is our prolific striker then when Rodgers knew this all along?

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  45. I'm not going down that road with you! I thought it would be nice to try and establish some positive discussion on what LFC can do to get us back competing.
    Clearly this season has gone tits up in a big way and rather than dwell and wallow in despair I'd rather turn my thoughts to possibly assembling a better team for next season.
    I know we don't agree on the leadership issue but possibly we could have masterminded a route to getting our targets more efficiently this summer, admittedly, most of plan revolved around making Lyon an offer they couldn't refuse for Lacazette to get the ball rolling and show we mean business.

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  46. No.. If improvement isn't guaranteed. But I was for improvement all along..

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  47. So you got the improvement you wanted?

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  48. Well said Tesoman.

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  49. Think that is a default fixture that comes with every post regardless of the subject!

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  50. we do our best stu.....we do our best...

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  51. Agreed, Tesoman. He lost form after he took one for the team and injured himself clattering into a manc in our 1-0 win early last season. Credit where it's due.

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  52. The time to get Bertrand was last season when most saw him as English rubbish.
    Southampton wont be letting him go after 1 season for anything othr than a ridiculous price.

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  53. Whenever Bertrand was given a chance he performed. The Champions league final Chelsea unfortunately won was the best game I'd seen him play.

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  54. Case in the place1:03 pm, April 30, 2015

    Not entirely sure it's due to the new layout but more often than not my gaps between paragraphs seem to disappear somewhere into the unknown, between me writing them and them appearing on here. Not always but probably 90%ish of the time.
    There should be a complete break in the text above this sentence for example. I'm using IE10 if that helps, no biggie but doesn't make for easy reading.

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  55. Case in the place1:09 pm, April 30, 2015

    In the above it doesn't look too bad, as the word 'time' still has sufficient space after it to create a break, however, when it left my fingertips there was a whole complete blank line (return key hit twice to create) between the words 'time' and 'there' Hope that makes sense.

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