23 Apr 2015

Marquee Signing? LFC legend urges Liverpool to sign 'extraordinary' £26m striker. Agree?

This season, Liverpool 'strikers' Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini, and Mario Balotelli ('Lambortelli') have collectively contributed a meagre 8 goals to the cause, which is only one less than Martin Skrtel - a defender - scored last year. It's pretty pathetic, really, and simply underlines Brendan Rodgers' poor performance in the transfer market over the last three years. Clearly, Liverpool bought the wrong striker, and Reds legend Jan Molby has criticised his old club for ignoring one of Europe's most talented goalscorers last summer.

Discussing Liverpool's strikers this week, a clearly irritated Molby urged Rodgers to scrap Lambortelli and sign Mario Mandzukic instead. He told the 5-Times podcast:

"[Mario] Mandzukic was allowed to leave Bayern Munich and go to Atletico Madrid, with nobody including Liverpool showing any real interest. How do you not show an interest? That's the type of player you want [at Anfield]"

Molby has regularly championed the signing of 'extraordinary' Mandzukic, and he's arguably right that Liverpool should've made an attempt to sign the 28-year old striker. The real choker here is that Mandzukic cost Atletico £16m, which is exactly what Liverpool paid for Balotelli.

Mandzukic's value has now reportedly risen to £26m, which means if the Rodgers decides to purse the Croatian now, the Reds will have to pay through the nose (which, granted, is par for the course when it comes to Liverpool transfers)

I doubt there are many fans who'd dispute that Mandzukic would've been a better signing than Balotelli. Let's look a their respective stats this season:

* Balotelli: 4 goals/0 assists in 26 apps.
* Mandzukic: 20 goals/5 assists in 39 apps.

Case closed.

Realistically, though, even if Liverpool pursued Mandzukic, it's highly unlikely that he would've signed for Liverpool. With the greatest respect to Rodgers, Diego Simeone has far more pulling power, especially with his achievements at Atletico over the last few years.

There's also Mandzukic's worrying injury history to consider:

* 10 injuries since 2010.
* 158 days on the sidelines | 34 games missed

As of last week, Mandzukic is injured yet again, and according to Simeone, he's 'out indefinitely' with an ankle injury. With that in mind, perhaps Liverpool were right to steer clear?

Author:


38 comments:

  1. Nailed it in the first sentence! Those three deserve the cut just as much as BR.

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  2. I would keep Balotelli...klopp would get the best out of him

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  3. after hearing Brendan Rodgers comments today i think he literally deserves the sack. the guy just got excuses after excuses. one minute hes saying were going for the league, champions league and that well deal with the loss of Suarez. when we start losing he starts saying we can still win the league. then when were within contention of getting top 4 he says getting no top 4 at lfc is a disaster, then when we cant lose 2 crucial games in top 4 race he says winning a trophy is a succesfful season, then we lose to Villa and he says reaching two semi-finals and 5th place is about where were at. despite spending £110M last summer, the same amount as Chelsea who are champions.


    he is not realistic. he makes up excuses by the day. if we play good, overpraise. if we lose, excuses.


    we need someone with Football pedigree like Ronald Koeman. came to the league and has same points as us despite losing 3 key players

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  4. Id like to know who told him he was a tactical genius

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  5. Mandzukic is Croatian.

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  6. honestly. like i use to say hes deluded but now i actually believe hes deluded. because he bought players we wernt meant to, were having to play ridiculous formations to complement them. when its really simple. 4-3-3, 4-2-3-1 and 4-1-2-1-2(diamond) are the only formations for LFC. these all revolve around a number 10, a holding player, wingers and a striker. instead of spending £25M on quality where it was needed and on a proven world class player, we spend it on average Lallana. we got Coutinho and we go and do that.


    BR has to go.

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  7. next match i would play


    ----------------------------------------Mingolet
    Flannagan----------------Skrtel-------------Lovren-----------Moreno
    ----------------------------Can---------------Henderson
    -----Sterling---------------------Coutinho---------------------Ibe
    -----------------------------------Balotelli

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  8. In this last interview he appears to believe or wants us to believe that he's here next season- I really hope not. I think the word they used to describe it was 'bullish' ------- nearly right

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  9. Come on. Mandzukic isn't German.

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  10. Doubt Flanagan will be fit enough

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  11. He has lost it

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  12. That's just classic JK.

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  13. Not a fan of Mandzukic. I'd prefer to give our Mario another chance.

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  14. I am actually disappointed with BR comments. How dare he says finishing 5th and making two semi finals is LFC's supposed befitting level of achievement? I dont understand that. It clearly shows he is a small club manager. He has forgotten that he has spent over 200 million pounds on players acquisition since ever coming to Liverpool with just two good signings (Coutinho/Sturridge) costing him less than 10% of his total squander. Rather than reflect on his poor transfers that have kept Liverpool behind its rivals, he likes to go defensive and give excuses with all impunity. That is definitely unacceptable. We need value for money, we need results, we want to compete in the top and we want trophies. LFC is not a championship club!!

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  15. Borini had a better goalscoring record at Sunderland and Roma....Balotelli had better at Milan and City....Lambert had better at Southampton....

    BR is the only culprit IMO

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  16. "[Mario] Mandzukic was allowed to leave Bayern Munich and go to Atletico Madrid, with nobody including Liverpool showing any real interest. How do you not show an interest? That's the type of player you want [at Anfield]"

    No surprise in that - why a Bayern player come to play under a nobody Brit who has very little recognition outside UK. I doubt, if Mandzukic heard of Rogers before taking charge of LFC. BR's transfer business clearly tells me a fact - outside UK, he has very little pulling power, even for obnoxious money.

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  17. I do not understand the hate for Borini. He has barely played for us. In three seasons, he has only played 24 games and many of them undoubtedly as a sub. He has not had a sustained run in the team and has suffered two long term injuries. In his last start, he scored a goal and was dropped altogether after that. He has been misused by BR.

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  18. So no matter how many managers have failed, this myth continues. A manager who won't be our manager next year will get the best out of a player Mourinho called uncoachable. Ok.

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  19. Finishing 5th is par for the fifth wage and fifth most expensive team. There is no excuse for the poor showing in cups though and he has no argument there.

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  20. None of them are bad players.

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  21. None of them are good enough though -


    Balotelli has the ability but seems unable to perform

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  22. I suspect they'd make a mean combo.

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  23. Mandzukic is German? Come on Jaimie, that's really lazy and you know it.

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  24. The German Kid if he stays fit - can save us a fortune - he looks a natural. Whats the betting he will be our top scorer next year ??

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  25. Surprisingly, he was BR's first signing and he raved about him so much before the transfer. I also don't remember Borini playing as a striker for Liverpool in more than couple of games.

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  26. After seeing him play up close this season i think Mario is a good player.he was out of place during thr first half of the season Rodgers tried to use him as scapegoat which hás failed in recent games there has been a significant improvement in his performanc . He was the best player
    n Sunday i would give him a run in the team till until the end of the season as Liverpool look stale at the moment

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  27. I still harbour hope that we'll find a way to put his ability to use. He was good for Milan last season, so he should still remember how to do stuff.

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  28. Yesil? Yeah he's a deadly finisher. If he gets his fitness back and gets a good run, he might well score a hatful for us.

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  29. Manđukić has given a statement why he left Bayern. The reason was he thought he doesn't fit in the style Guardiola plays with Bayern. That means he is quite a stubborn and I'm sure he wouldn't go along with Rodgers philosophy of versatile and mobile attackers.

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  30. I have heard others say he was best player and while not bad he still does a lot of the things that make him a bad player. Holding positions nowhere near goal instead of moving. Picking the wrong option slot of the time. My problem isn't with his ability it is with his mind. He reminds me of Shelvey. He is just not football intelligent.

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  31. I think he showed his intelligence when he took the ball of Henderson for the penalty when the rest of the players displayed sheep mentality by following rules and waiting to be told. Which is the reason why Liverpool are flopping in big games because there are no characters on the pitch hence the reason why Mario stood out on Sunday

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  32. A good manager should really be able to iron those niggles out.

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  33. Clear the pantry of these stiffs. Oddly, Borini is the only one of the three that has shown any zeal and energy. Balo is a physical specimen for sure but is a lazy-minded child and plays a s such. Great at adverts and posing on the field. useless in all else. Lambert, an LFC fan and a great story is nothing more than a tugboat at this stage of his career. For God's sake, move on and great real impact players instead of dabbling in unproved projects!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
    Lastly, we need a new transfer committee and the new committee should be Twistadee, Stuart and Logan!!!

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  34. Surely not him, would be wasted of money, better save it for lacazette

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  35. And the list of managers including Mourinho who were unable? What does this mean. Also I don't think football intelligence is a niggle. I think it is something that takes a he'll of a lot of work to get right if it is not natural(and it isn't with him). Is he willing to admit the problem is his, that he has a lot to learn? I doubt it.

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  36. He was the right man to take the pen but that is not what I am am talking about. It is decision making, tactical awareness being able to learn new roles. Non of these things he has shown much improvement on since he was a teenager.

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