12 Oct 2012

Bundesliga raid? LFC eye €8.5m star who averages a goal/assist every game...

After the summer arrival of promising young striker Samed Yesil, Liverpool have reportedly reignited their interest in one of his former team-mates.

According to reports in Italy, Liverpool are keeping tabs on German striker Stefan Kiessling.

The 6'3 German International has an impressive creative record for Leverkusen:

* 51 goals and 11 assists in the last 92 starts.

* Last 5 seasons: 116 goals and 23 assists.

* League: Last 5 seasons - Averages a goal every 108 minutes (One every 1.2 games)

* League: Last 5 seasons - Averages a goal/assist every 94 minutes (One every game)

Liverpool have been linked with the €8.5m-rated striker several times in the past, and in an interview with BILD in August 2010, Ali Bulut - Kiessling's Agent - confirmed the Reds interest. He said:

"Milan, Liverpool, Schalke 04 and Rubin Kazan have asked for the player in the recent weeks.

"There are no formal offers at the moment. Depending on what Bayer say he could be sold in January"


The 28-year old's current contract with Leverkusen expires in 2015, and with Sami Hyypia at the helm, Liverpool would definitely have an advantage in negotiations.

Once again though, age would appear to be a factor. If Brendan Rodgers didn't value 29-year old Clint Dempsey higher than 3-4 million, it seems unlikely that he'll pay any kind of significant fee for Kiessling, who will be the same age as Dempsey soon.

You can't argue with Kiessling's creative contribution though: for Leverkusen, he basically guarantees a goal or an assist every game, and has done for the last 5 years, which shows impressive consistency.

Worth a bid?



Jaimie Kanwar


15 comments:

  1. this guy can finish :O

    ReplyDelete
  2. To be honest i didn't know Kiessling was as old as 28 years I always figured him to be younger. Listen he is certainly a quality talent for any team he plays for. He has been getting it done in more ways than one in the Bundesliga and for Germany. Joachim Low thinks highly of him and has used him many times for Germany.

    We all know by now that FSG did not really want to sign a 29 year old Dempsey due to his age and nothing else, but that was well before Borini injured himself while playing for Italy. Since then it has also been highly rumored that Liverpool with the blessing of FSG actually tried to sign Alessandro Del Piero when he was ready to leave Juventus. Del Piero's agent later confirms the fact that Liverpool were interested in the services of the 37 year old striker.

    Why is this important you might ask yourself? After-all Del-Piero turned Liverpool down due to the 1985 Heysel tragedy to sign for Sydney FC. It is important because Del Piero is 37 years old and much older than Kessling 28 and Dempsey 29, yet Liverpool FC really wanted to sign him. I believe that consideration of a players age is a thing of the past. FSG recognize that Liverpool is in trouble this season since the goals are still hard to come by . Realizing their error in the summer of not tying down a striker they are willing to take a chance on a veteran striker if it means that he will make an impact right away in the team.

    If Del Piero was actually considered then Rodgers and FSG can much easier consider a man in very good form on top of his game Stephan Kessling.

    ReplyDelete
  3. I never really figured out what all the fuss about Kiessling is. Whenever I've watched him play he hasn't impressed me at all. We'd have to ask someone who watches Leverkusen on a regular basis to tell us if he really is that good, or any good. To be honest, nearly all German players who are really good end up with Bayern Munich and as far as I know they were never interested in him. He has six caps for Germany so he hardly is a regular for the national team either. 77 goals in 194 league games in the last five years. Not bad, but not that special. Mario Gomez has 64 goals in 94 league games. Not that I like him a lot, but that is a much better ratio. My verdict on Kiessling would be thanks, but no thanks, even though he is more mobile than Andy Carroll.

    ReplyDelete
  4. thank God you are not the Liverpool coach. Kiessling has more experience in his little pinky finger than Carroll's whole body. He is not another developing player like Carrol he is actually the finished article. You can't judge Kiessling's performance off of just one game that you happened to watch. Kiessling is an automatic starter on Leverkusen and can break into more starting elevens than Carroll. For a big guy Kiessling possess a great touch on the ball. He is a born finisher. He is the player that Carroll would love to be

    ReplyDelete
  5. Del Piero was only considered due to 2 reasons. 1) Backlash of supporters due to not signing any strikers/ Dempsey-Welbeck-Walcott Saga/ short squad.
    2) He was the best among all the free agents available.

    They still wont consider old player IMO and I agree with it. And this guy aint that old, he is in his prime so sign him...!!

    ReplyDelete
  6. He did say Kiessling seems to be better than Carroll...didn't he?

    ReplyDelete
  7. But what if he is a "Steven Fletcher-type-of-player" that everyone knew he was good but no one was sure if he was good enough for a top team? If he's cheap and experienced, I don't see us doing worse than we are if he comes in. My only problem is that at 28, he might not be so fluid in the BR philosophy, and at that age, its hard to change your game play

    ReplyDelete
  8. We wont finnish top four this season and not the next. So buying an "old" striker is a waste of money. BR should stick with the youngsters in the reserves. The future starts with them.

    ReplyDelete
  9. We need a proven quality striker, otherwise what does that tell us all, players included, that LFC lack ambition and investment. It would be very hard to attract good players, if they see mediocrity arriving time after time. FSG put us in this position in the transfer window, so let them take us out of it, or sell up, and let genuinely interested parties take us forward.

    ReplyDelete
  10. You clearly have problems reading and/or understanding my comment. That's really sad, as it still doesn't keep you from replying in a ridiculous way. By the way, I don't judge Kiessling on one performance and not on any highlights someone might have uploaded on Youtube. I have admitted that I don't watch him 90 mins every week, though.

    ReplyDelete
  11. Yeah, what if, but why should we take a chance on him? As I've said, I have never been too impressed with him and the German national coach seems to be with me on that one.

    ReplyDelete
  12. He is not good even in Football Manager lol

    ReplyDelete
  13. There we have it then. Back in the days when I played Championship Manager they got the players ability right more often than not. They must have put a lot of effort into scouting. Though it never gave real life Ibrahima Bakayoko much of a career at a top club :-)

    ReplyDelete
  14. So much better that he still chose Carroll over Keissling. Yeah he if i may quote him directly "thanks but no thanks to" Kiessling who is more mobile than Carroll. Because maybe Liverpool is not deserving of a player who is more mobile than Carroll. Nothing else he says is important to me. This is all i want to focus on. Don't understand why Carroll get the respect he does for someone who hasn't really done anything. It is thinking like yours that has held Liverpool back. Rodgers is trying to change all that. To bring in change and he has upset a lot of people . Kudos to him for sending Andy on his way.

    The bottom line you guys fail to understand is that the level of quality for liverpool has fallen so bad over the years from what it was in 2005. A player like Kiessling who has been playing at the highest level would do more for the starting line up than Carroll ever could.

    This is not rocket science really.

    ReplyDelete
  15. Well, there are actually many strikers playing at the highest level consistently for years but that doesn't mean they are guaranteed success. Darren Bent for starters, he scores consistently well but I still wouldn't like LFC going for him.

    ReplyDelete