1 Jul 2015

Inside Info: Liverpool 'Insider' confirms BR wants 'excellent' international who slammed 'sick' and 'overrated' England team

Liverpool are currently linked with a move for 'excellent' FC Copenhagen left-back Ludwig Augustinsson, but what are the chances of the Swedish youngster ending up at Anfield this summer?

On Monday, the Daily Mail claimed:

"Liverpool have discussed a move for Swedish U21 international Ludwig Augustinsson".

In an interview today, alleged 'Anfield Insider' Graham Beecroft told TalkSport:

"They [Liverpool] are also interested in Ludwig Augustinsson, who played last night for Sweden Under-21s against Portugal"

When asked today about Liverpool's alleged interest, though, Copenhagen boss Stale Solbakken dismissed the rumours, and claimed that there are 'no requests' for Augustinsson. He told Aftonbladet:

"We have not had any inquiries about Ludwig, not from them [Liverpool, or from any club. There is no reason for us to comment on it".

Solbakken also urged Augustinnson to stay at Copenhagen to develop:

"It's best for Ludwig to be here with us for a while. This does not mean that he will play for FCK for four years, but in any case two years maybe. He's very good already but he can be even better."

I totally agree with this, but like so many other young players before him, Augustinsson - who has made 2 appearances for the Sweden national team - will probably jump at the chance of a move to a big club, even if it means his overall development may be interrupted (by wasting away on the bench etc).

That said, I totally support the signing of any player who holds views like this:

"I think they [The England U21 team] are overrated. Some players go for such sick amounts of money in England and are a bit more expensive than they are good".

Augustinsson clearly knows the score. The England teams - senior and junior - are both massively overrated, and the U21 team's miserable failure at the European Championship underlines (once again) the ingrained mediocrity eating away at the heart of the English game.


As for Augustinsson - Alberto Moreno had a disappointing first-season at Anfield, and proved to be a defensive liability on a number of occasions. However, if Liverpool are to sign another left-back, it should be someone capable of putting in a strong challenge to be the club's first-choice.

Is Augustinsson capable of doing that? To me, it seems like another Adam Bogdan situation, i.e. Rodgers bringing in a squad-filler who'll provide no real competition for Moreno, who cost the club £12m last summer. As such, what's the point? Augustinsson will probably go the way as Javier Manquillo, and spend most of his time on the bench.

On a related note: if Rodgers' plan is to bring in yet another comparatively untested youngster, surely it makes more sense to just promote someone from Liverpool's own youth set-up...?

Author: Jaimie K


40 comments:

  1. I would sign and loan for a year, assuming the fee is reasonable. If he comes good, that's one less position we have to worry about. If not, well we didn't lose anything, did we?

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  2. This guy seems an incredibly talented player. Replacing the old injury prone Enrique with him and probably for around the same price would be good business. I doubt he will be overawed by the clubs size and expectations with views like that. I'm all for hard-working young players like him, who see Liverpool as the final destination and will work very hard to make sure they don't waste their chance. Scandanavian defenders also have been quite sucessful for us. Hyppia and Agger were great servants.

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  3. Interesting- any challenge on LB position is welcome, I said already, Moreno is (still) a poor man's Marcelo- too much attacking flair with little defensive responsibility, mostly playing as a winger than a wing back or a left back; but he needs a proper challenger, Im not sure this kid is the answer- and I hope Moreno worked on his defensive game, I'd hate to see him resting his hands on his back while performing a tackle (which he mistimes) again, and turning his back to an incoming shot.

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  4. I agree.. BR has a poor record of promoted players from the LFC youth ranks, with only Flanno, Sterling and Ibe given a decent go.

    Does this mean our youth players are not up to the task? This is a major problem which no one seems to be addressing.

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  5. Nathan Redmond had him on toast. This is not a good sign.

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  6. ...guys it's first of July....first day of official signings and confirmations of teams and whether we really have or have not tied up dealings.....


    ....unless I'm severely mistaken there's no sign of BR...?!


    ...don't understand....anyone else here know anything.....infer anything...care to put forward a supposition.......

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  7. Its very strange. .

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  8. He's on Holiday, like all the other managers.

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  9. "if Rodgers' plan is to bring in yet another comparatively untested youngster, surely it makes more sense to just promote someone from Liverpool's own youth set-up"



    If this was the case, players like Markovic and Lallana would not be at the club and players like Suso would be. For all talk about giving youth a chance, Rodgers has bought so much of this potential nonsense like Alberto and now Gomez.

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  10. On this, we agree. I have no issue with buying youngsters to go into the academy, but buying youngsters to go into the first team sqaud and just become bench warmers is a waste of theirs and LFC's time and in the laters case, money aswell.... Augustinsson is a good young player, but he is not yet Moreno understudy good. Moreno is understudy good, so prehaps going for a more experienced LB would be more useful...

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  11. I agree to an extent, for me though, I think we need to be smarter in the youth Potentials we buy, maybe a little more work scouting them is needed.

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  12. Scouting and Liverpool do not go together.. Even I can sit back and scout Southampton and Aston Villa players.

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  13. Bugs thee hell out of me when I see him doing that... I think he watches Ivanovic of Chelsea, it's something he does all the time....

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  14. Can, Coutinho, Moreno, even to some extent Allen, Sturridge, and Henderson. These are all decent, young footballers who've done well under Rodgers and been given real responsibilities in the first team. From within we've had Sterling and Ibe emerge as top talents. Markovic and Alberto haven't worked out, but realistically it doesn't always. So it goes.

    This is better performance than any other club in the top half of the table, to my knowledge, with the possible exception of Saints, though they are largely stocked with foreign stars now. I don't see how anyone can seriously have a problem with this.

    The players that have moved on -- that's *good*! It's good that Liverpool is somewhere from where players can progress in their careers. Our youngsters get good moves and this will help us recruit better players at youth level as we progress. Much more to say on this -- but just lastly I think writing off a player in Gomez before he's even kicked a ball for us lacks a bit of class.

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  15. Twilight Zone strange.. Only in that the media haven't been following him around the globe trying to ask ridiculous questions..... He'll be back when training starts, before is non of our business...

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  16. I am not writing Gomez off but when you are defending the signing of Gomez you are essentially ending the Liverpool career of players like Lloyd Jones who have toiled in the academy for so long only to see it most probably tarnished before it began. The point is we never needed most of these guys. Would we be any worse off with Suso instead of Lallana or Shelvey instead of Allen. Also, all those players you have mentioned in the first sentence with the exception of Hendo are all Rodgers signings and not academy players.

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  17. I don't think I am doing that -- but so what if I were, anyway? Lloyd Jones is going to struggle for a first team spot at Liverpool, he's not got what it takes at this point, and it doesn't look likely to me that he's going to suddenly develop it, but I wouldn't be surprised if he had a good career in league football. I watch as much of the academy games as I can and I always want the lads to do well, same as you, but we have to be realistic.

    And yes, we would be worse off with Suso instead of Lallana, and Shelvey instead of Allen -- or more like Can who he resembles more. Emphatically, you've got this upside down. Lallana is many times the player Suso is, a different class entirely. Suso is a second-rate midfielder who has not developed on his early promise. Lallana has fought his way up from the bottom of the heap and improved every year he's been in the game, forging a ten year career with over 300 first team appearances and winning many individual and team awards. I



    Players need something special, something extra to come through to the Liverpool first team. It's not enough just to be a good solid young pro, though it's fantastic, I think, that we are producing young players like that, who are able to go on and have careers. There are a couple in there who have a chance to develop what it takes, and BR has shown he is prepared to give them a chance, which is more than they might get elsewhere, believe me!

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  18. You remember January 2014. Salah and Kono were about to join Liverpool and Sterling, a teenager who increasingly looked like failing to develop on his early promise after his off field problems was going to be loaned out. Things happened, some say fate and Sterling revitalised his career and became part of one of the worlds most thrilling attacks. He could easily have been shunted out but Rodgers gave him more chances even after he looked poor. Now you have Suso in similar circumstances except he was not quite as fortunate as Sterling in his chances and was eventually sold off. If we had not signed Alberto and kept Suso in the squad instead of loaning him out, he could also have revitalized his career but never got the chance that Sterling did. My point is that we give up so easily on talent from our own academy in search for more. Every time a player gets sold, the reason is he was not good enough but if you are never given the chance on the biggest stage, you can never improve. Instead of signing so many players hoping they will develop into something more, why not take the chance with our own. Wenger gave Ramsey the chances even after he was booed by Arsenal fans, same with Coquelin and Bellerin. Instead of hoping players like Gomez become good and spending money on them, why not hope so for players in our academy at a similar stage in their development.

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  19. I like what you're arguing here, I think we are in sympathy basically, and I'm going to have a think about it. Thanks for taking the time to write a good post. For me, it's healthy to have people coming and going within a stable club structure. Not just for competition, but to keep things fresh and to keep people thinking and learning from new perspectives and people.

    I will never understand the emphasis on Suso in these narratives, though, who is just an ordinary kind of player to my eyes; not up to it, for me. I also think it would have been better for Sterling and Liverpool if one of those players had signed, and Sterling could have had less pressure on him, which in my opinion somewhat deformed his development. But these are minor points.

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  20. More good potential for the future, can only be a good thing and best to snap them up before Chelski get them all.
    Difficult to make a really accurate judgment though without knowing his and the authors views on all of Britain's other national teams :)

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  21. I can't see the logic of many of our signings at times to be honest! I feel it would have made more sense to bring in an LB with the knowledge and experience to push Moreno to perform better and keep on his toes someone like Henri Bedimo would have been ideal and would be pretty cheap.

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  22. Signing him up to is the obvious solution ;-)

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  23. or he is in his office ,working hard in planning the coming season .

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  24. I agree with you and their a handfull of LB available for free but all in the 30 y age group .

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  25. Agreed , LFC must have one of the worst scouting systems around.
    on the other hand Southhampton must have one of the best !

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  26. Does too much watching and imitating than actually defending- maybe Clyne teaches him a thing or two

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  27. What about trying for Coentrao on loan? A player that has really lost his way at Madrid. He might never be the player some though he could be and like Moreno looks suspect in defense at times but maybe with a prolonged run in a team he could come good. A loan would be low risk too

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  28. Is it 6 or 7 signings now and not a word from him.that too me is a little odd!

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  29. Moreno will come back stronger this season I'm sure, he's a great character. It's a long season for a young player coming in from overseas, with a lot of new challenges. I think the way Moreno dropped off from his level in the last quarter of the season is understandable.

    But I do like the idea of getting in someone with some experience to do a bit of schooling and support him.

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  30. Ah yes but Redmond is a phenomenon. Easily worth 140 million

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  31. What? A man who works for ten months straight between August and May gets to go on holidays? Unheard of...

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  32. I blame the EU.

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  33. You forgot to mark up the price for the English tax ;)

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  34. Stop buying potential!! Unless this guy is amazing, which the fee suggests he isn't, is he any better than our academy players?

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  35. Bloke can't win, fans are moaning that he's has an ego the size of Liverpool, and can't keep his mouth shut... And now moaning because he is doing just that.... I don't know why he isn't talking yet, maybe he feels after last season, he's probably best just allowing the signings talk for themselves, and let the footballdo all his talking for him... Good approach.

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  36. Ya hopefully that is his new approach but I still find it strange he hasn't said a word.and i wasnt moaning by the way.is that OK with you or do I get your permission before I ask any questions or give an opinion on LFC??

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  37. Ya hopefully that is his new approach but I still find it strange he hasn't said a word.and i wasnt moaning by the way .is that OK with you or do I get your permission before I ask any questions or give an opinion on LFC??

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  38. Calm down dear, it was a general statement....

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  39. I agree - In an ideal world he would just be, on holiday - all perfectly normal and fine; but the reality is that rather than an ideal world, we live in a second by second media hurricane and the fact we've heard nothing, not only from BR but also FSG is at minimum very odd.
    Also the silence has done nothing to mask the disappearance of two of our big cheeses or the appearance of numerous new ones.
    Fair enough it's only reasonable to allow the powers that be some time to pick the bones from last season and to try and address it's shortcomings, but it also seems perfectly reasonable for us to, at some point expect a bit of clarification.

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