Last summer, Dutch winger Eljero Elia confirmed that Liverpool had made contact over a potential deal, and he praised the Reds as the 'biggest club in England'. Alas, the deal fell through, and the talented winger joined Juventus instead. Elia has had a torrid time in Italy though, and this week, he admitted that the transfer had been a 'failure', and that he was looking to relaunch his career elsewhere. Could Anfield be a possible destination this summer?
Liverpool have been linked with Elia several times since his move to Juventus, and after the 25-year old's comments this week, it's clear that the opportunity is definitely there for the club to go back in for him. Speaking to Algemeen Dagblad, Elia said:
"I want to leave Juventus. I never got a chance to prove my worth and I want to enjoy playing football again. This season has been a failure. It's really hurt me, but I've become stronger mentally. I'm 25 now and I still have a long career ahead of me. I came from far, but I will have to start all over again."
Elia - whose contract runs until Summer 2015 - has made only 4 starts for Juventus this season, but after this outburst, it's possible that the Serie A giants will be willing to listen to offers. After all, what's the point in keeping an unhappy player?
Liverpool need quality wingers, and Stewart Downing is most definitely not the answer. €15m-rated Elia sounds like he wants to prove himself, which means he'll probably be highly motivated to do well. Worth a bid, or even a potential loan deal?
Jaimie Kanwar
Liverpool have been linked with Elia several times since his move to Juventus, and after the 25-year old's comments this week, it's clear that the opportunity is definitely there for the club to go back in for him. Speaking to Algemeen Dagblad, Elia said:
"I want to leave Juventus. I never got a chance to prove my worth and I want to enjoy playing football again. This season has been a failure. It's really hurt me, but I've become stronger mentally. I'm 25 now and I still have a long career ahead of me. I came from far, but I will have to start all over again."
Elia - whose contract runs until Summer 2015 - has made only 4 starts for Juventus this season, but after this outburst, it's possible that the Serie A giants will be willing to listen to offers. After all, what's the point in keeping an unhappy player?
Liverpool need quality wingers, and Stewart Downing is most definitely not the answer. €15m-rated Elia sounds like he wants to prove himself, which means he'll probably be highly motivated to do well. Worth a bid, or even a potential loan deal?
Jaimie Kanwar
How about we get him on loan and promise to buy after a year? Seems to work the other way around!
ReplyDeleteUnless a team above us in the league comes in for him, or maybe Malaga, we're the best team he could go to.
ReplyDeleteWhoever our DoF is should realise Liverpool are in a strong negotiating position and drive a hard bargain. A years loan with an option to buy. Relatively risk free.
I think Elia is an interesting player- he looks suited to the Prem. He is quick and skilful and used to playing the inverted winger role that favours our attacking full-backs but he has failed to produce for so long, he looks very Babel-y.
I first saw this guy in the last World Cup, playing on the left for Holland and i thought that he had definite potential, good player not afraid to take on a player, good technique etc and i think we do need to bolster the squad.....
ReplyDeleteNot sure if he should directly replace Downing tbh, but with more options in the squad it would make it more competitive which is something we do need for sure, more competition for places is a must for next season.
with sightings of Hazzard at the ity stadium we really should look to adam johnson. surely City cannot deem us as rivals anymore.
ReplyDeleteDoes anyone know why the deal to come to LFC fell through?
ReplyDeleteif he failed at juventus and serie a, how you think he would do in epl? more fail, the only player we should get in that position is hazard, then sign another striker, and a right winger.
ReplyDeleteIf there is any truth that Liverpool have approached him more than once and he has chosen to elsewhere tells me let him go elsewhere.
ReplyDeleteloan him, then don't buy him. ring a bell juve?
ReplyDeletethat would mean using business sense. just not the liverpool way.
ReplyDeleteehhh can he cross the ball ??/
ReplyDeleteNow, this one what we call transfer target. JUST SIGN HIM NOW!!!
ReplyDeleteI really feel that adding exciting wingers to the squad could prove to be a great jumpstart for us. Downings been too dothery, Henderson the same. Maxi and Bellamy have been good at times but clearly aren't the future. We desperately need direct pace and flair on the wings. Elia could be such a player. With that and Lucas returning our central midfield would be competant (atleast as good as Man Utd or Arsenal's). Add competition upfront and we should be far more competitive next season.
ReplyDeleteWe may need a more professional approach also, I get the impression that Dalglish gives the players too much freedom and not enough responsibilty.
Liverpool need to learn from the example of Man U - you need a whole set of wide men to carry you through a season; for the inevitable spells when one or two are having a tough time, another is available to pick up the slack.
ReplyDeleteOver the 2012 summer I'd hope to see Liverpool pick up two wide-men along the likes of Johnson, Elia, Sinclair, Hoillett, Moses, Quaresma, Affelay, Boudebouz etc - quick, versatile wide-men with skill, that can replace Kuyt/Maxi/Bellamy/Henderson on the wings, rotate with Suarez, relegate Downing to 3rd/4th choice winger and set a good example for Sterling to follow
Liverpool need to learn from the example of Man U - you need a whole set of wide men to carry you through a season; for the inevitable spells when one or two are having a tough time, another is available to pick up the slack.
ReplyDeleteOver the 2012 summer I'd hope to see Liverpool pick up at least two wide-men along the lines of Adam Johnson, Elia, Sinclair, Hoillett, Moses, Quaresma, Affelay, Boudebouz etc - quick, versatile, exciting wide-men with skill & flair, that can replace Kuyt/Maxi/Bellamy/Henderson on the wings, rotate with Suarez, relegate Downing to 3rd/4th choice winger and set a good example for Sterling and/or Silva to follow
Totally agree, I was going to use the Man Utd example myself!
ReplyDeleteIts harder to be a great winger in Serie A than it is in PL. The game over there is quite hard for a winger. Not many wingers have been consistently good in that league as its tactically suffocating for wingers, as well as many teams in that league rely on their full backs for genuine width (Rafinha, Maicon, the full backs at Juve, Abate, Vargas, Criscito, etc). Only Pavel Nedved has been a great success as a winger in that league in the last 20 years. There have been other wingers but they are inconsistent (like Krasic, Sergio Conceicao) or they get moved forward (Sanchez). So just because a winger doesn't do well in Serie A, doesn't mean he is good enough. Its a totally different game over there.
ReplyDeleteJuve don't need him. Tactically, he doesn't fit in as they use their full backs to provide a lot of the width in their ever-changing formations this season. He was a good prospect before he went there, worth a punt if he is cheap but surely we should go for Hoillett.
ReplyDeleteVidal, what a signing he has been, along with Pirlo.
Tell you what, Tom Ince is playing well tonight!
ReplyDeleteDont need him, he's rubbish!
ReplyDeletewe need to sign a couple of them bilbao lads.
Thierry Henry failed in Serie A but he didn't do so badly in the Prem did he?
ReplyDeleteMaxi and Kuyt will be gone, Sterling is still young & lightweight, Downing has simply not performed at a high level for us. Elia looks like a hungry player eager to prove himself - go for him!
ReplyDeleteIf we loan Elija, sign Adam Johnson for 10m if City get Hazard and also add a class dribbler and play maker like Shinji Kagawa from Dortmund who is interested in moving to the Premier League our width and creativity will be sorted for relatively cheap.
ReplyDeleteWe probably won't have a great deal of transfer funds available this summer unless we use the Warrior Kit money and go all out but getting Gaston Ramirez, Luke De Jong, Mauricio Isla and another back up DMF like Moussa Sissoko or Nigel De Jong.
We probably won't have a lot of funds but just getting 3 of the players above will improve us considerably. Next year we will have the Europa Cup so we will need the squad depth to play on all fronts.
ReplyDeleteSpeaking of the Europa Cup, a few players I would have loved to have seen playing in the Liverpool shirt were on display:
ReplyDeleteAtletico Madrid: Diego Godin, Mario Suarez, Arda Turan and Falcao.
Athletic Bilbao: Javi Martinez, Fernando Llorente and Iker Muiain.
We have been linked with almost all of the above before and considering Arda Turan set up 2 goals for Falcao last night, it is a pity that we never got him on the cheap a few years ago when he was still in Turkey and quoted as being interested in coming to us.
He is not the player we need, still raw at 25 and people will only moan if he isnt an instant success.
ReplyDeleteAdam Johnson cant be happy at Man City, he should be our priority this summer.
No fucking way, we had Babel and we sold this is what he is a similar with Babel only worse and weaker
ReplyDeletevictor moses
ReplyDeleteoliver giroud
ramus elm
gylfi sigurdsson
luuk de jong
gaston ramirez
fernando llorente
bojan
eljero elia
mauricia isla
moussa sissoko nigel de jong
adam johnson
these are the only players we should be sniffing around
I haven't watched any Championship games this year, but I did like Ince in our reserves – he looked like a decent wing prospect to me, but everybody seemed to have something against him, maybe mainly because of who his dad was.
ReplyDeleteOn another note, it's weird/pretty stupid how the top end of our reserves was dismantled so quickly, and that has to be another big marker against Hodgson.
We already had the likes of Pacheco, Plessis, Nemeth, Insua, Ayala, San Jose, etc that had showed at least as much, if not more potential, than the likes of Sterling, Suso, Coady, Morgan, Robinson, Wisdom etc, waiting for the opportunity to graduate from the reserves into our squad, but the former were shifted on, in most cases without being given a proper shot in the first team, and even worse with their counterparts years behind in the development scale (i.e. instead of a bunch of homegrown talent in their early 20’s backing up the senior squad, we have a bunch of 16-18 year old’s, or mediocre players in their 30’s).
I'd much rather have seen those guys on the bench this year than the likes of Kuyt/Maxi/Aurelio/Carragher etc (I don't understand how Spearing & Flanagan got so many chances ahead of those other kids either), even if only one or two of them developed into long term first team players that would've been a lot better than what we've developed this year, their wages would've been relatively low and their sell on fee would've only increased with increased exposure at the top level.
There's no point in saying "these are the only players" that could do the job, as there's always a few hidden gems out there that are just waiting to be uncovered.
ReplyDeleteWe do finally need to prioritise pace, power and technical ability for once though. All of this nonsense about attitude, adapatability and work rate is just seeing the level of our team dip year on year.
Got the 40m pounds for Hazard?
ReplyDeleteInce and fellow winger Phillips have been instrumental in Blackpool's successful push for play off place. Not sure why he was let go so soon by us. Only 20 years old.
ReplyDeleteConsidering how much Atleti have paid for Falcao and how his form has been really good all season for them, we haven't got a chance of signing him. With his mentor from River Plate now at Atleti, Diego Simeone, I reckon he will stay there at least another season. But sooner or later, one of the big clubs will come calling. He is too good to be not at a big club, unless Atleti somehow catapult themselves into the title challenging mix but knowing Atleti's inconsistent nature for the last two decades, that is unlikely
ReplyDelete