7 Apr 2013

Staying or going? 'Shocked' £20m LFC star confirms summer transfer plans

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is planning a transfer shake-up this summer, and by his own admission, he wants to bring in 'four or five' new players to improve the Reds' squad. Some players will inevitably me sold to accommodate the new arrivals, but one player will definitely be at Anfield next season is much-maligned winger Stewart Downing.

According to The Telegraph:

"One [Liverpool] player who will not be leaving is Stewart Downing.

"Six months after being told by Rodgers he had no future, the manager has informed him he is not for sale"


When asked about his future recently, Downing confirmed the Telegraph's story and revealed that he's staying at the club:

"He [Rodgers] wants me to stay, he’s told me that. He said I've been brilliant and that’s why he wants me to play every week. So, for me, that’s all put to bed now.”

Downing has transformed his Liverpool career over the last few months, and on current form, he's (along with Jordan Henderson) is arguably the club's most improved player this season.

Earlier in the season, Rodgers threatened Downing with the Anfield scrapheap, and the 28-year old admits that he found that hard to take:

"It was like a kick in the teeth; I was shocked. It hurt, it really did. I cannot afford not to be playing. Not at my age. He said: ‘If things don’t change you are free to leave.’ He was quite open about it and credit to him for that"

I've been one of Downing's biggest critics, and with no goals and assists last season, the criticism was definitely deserved. However, he's turned it around, and that's a great testament to him, and I have to admit that I agree with the decision to keep him around next season.

Having said that, I think it's likely that Downing will be more of a squad player next season. If Liverpool are to move to the next level, then the Reds need another attacker with a more consistent end product.

* 5 goals/3 assists in 41 appearances this season.
* Contrast this with Coutinho, who has 2 goals and 3 assists in 7 apps.

Downing has years of Premier League experience, yet a 20-year old with three months' experience under his belt has a better scoring/assist rate.

You never know though - maybe Downing will again push himself to the next level, and start contributing on a more regular basis? I personally don't care about age - for me, all that matters with attacking players is end product. If Downing scores/creates more goals than Coutinho next season, then Downing should stay in the team (and vice-versa)



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27 comments:

  1. The good times are back9:14 am, April 07, 2013

    Both Downing and Henderson have been transformed this season. Rodgers must be doing something right.


    I believe we will see at least three new player in our defence. Skrtel and Coates look to be on their way out and Carra retiring so we will need to replace these three. Also what we need is a powerhouse defensive midfielder. I love Lucas but he lacks pace and physical presence.

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  2. I've seen it a few times and it must be annoying, Downing gets the ball against teams that are sitting back he looks up and there is one in the box no point him crossing it so he passes it, that makes him look ineffectual and what oh why can't he play on the left???

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  3. This is all posturing. Downing is average at best, but Rodgers know's that he will not leave without a big pay off. By telling him he's in his plans , all it really means is, we are not going to take a big hit on you.
    Next season he will be a sub, as you point out, and eventually, hopefully, he'll get bored and ask to leave.
    Downing is not going to take us to the next level.

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  4. Downing has indeed improved tremendously. But he still lacks the winning mentality needed to be a Liverpool player. Same for Henderson, They have to improve this aspect of the game. Our inconsistency is caused by this mentality. This has to change,
    But with new signings they will become squad players. Competition for players is good. take it to the next level or you will be warming the bench. no player wants this for sure.

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  5. Downing has definitely improved this season and I am really happy for him. However I still maintain that Liverpool should sell him. Let's face the facts: 1. He is 29. 2. He is not world class. 3. His value is decreasing. Based on his form, we may get a team like Newcastle, Southampton or Stoke willing to pay around 10-12m for him. If we keep him for another season, his value will decrease and also he is on a high wage. So i'd say lets take the funds from his sale, add a little and get a player like Turan

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  6. I'd definitely keep him around next season as a squad player. We need experienced players and/or backup in all areas of the pitch. Especially if any new recruits don't hit the ground running. He's proving he'll be a very decent backup player and he works well tracking back when Johnson makes runs forward. Also, he's in his prime and may well crack on next season and step his game up even higher as there'll be more competition for places.

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  7. How does that 'winning mentality' manifest itself, in your view?

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  8. The good times are back9:46 am, April 07, 2013

    He may not be world class and I think everyone will agree there but he is a great squad player. If we sell him there is no way we will recoup the money we paid out so the best idea would be to keep Downing as he has proven to be a useful player this season. If Rodgers is planning on signing another wide player to play on the right then downing will add depth to our squad.

    Henderson is an intersting one though. Although Rodgers is going to give him a run of games now i just do not see him making it past the summer transfer window. If we do sign someone like Christian Eriksen or another attacking midfielder then Henderson is as good as gone.

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  9. Agree, but he's a good squad player to have around.

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  10. Winning mentality can't manifest it'self. It has to be in you. Or you have to work on your mentality to achieve it.

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  11. But would he be prepared to be a good squad player?

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  12. I will not agree if next season LFC want to keep S.Downing.Please tell me how many goal that he already score???Can we call him good players if 2 season below 10 goal.He get high payment salary but can give only a little assist or goal scoring??LFC cannot go to far away if still keep players who only acting like passenger or deadwood for the clubs.Henrikh Mkhitaryan should be good replacement for him.LFC must very brave to making some changes to give more improvement.Too risk and danger to still using underperformance players like him.It will kill your jobs position and LFC will lost and lost every season.

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  13. This could be just a transfer tactic to up Downing's valuation. We paid a hefty sum for his services and claiming to media that he is free to leave didn't do any favors for his value on top of his terrible form back then. Now that he is more established with his form, I think this is just a tactic to make possible interested clubs to know that he will not leave just for pocket money. Overall, I believe that he may still leave if a correct offer comes along or what do you think?

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  14. It;s funny. Downing has become kind of similar to Kuyt in the way that he's not a flashy game winner but he offers something different and especially defensively. Glad he's staying but, like with Kuyt we need an option on the right side with some flair for when his approach is not working.

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  15. Henderson got Liverpool back in the game last week - thats winning mentality - seeing the gap running into it beating the keeper - taking responsibility. Sorry to say Downing fails on all those points, so for me he'd be gone.

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  16. SD is turning 29 before the start of next season. My guess is he will not be able to fetch anything above 10 mil pounds. It may be a better idea to have him stay, especially when he has years of experience in the league. AC, I really think it'll be the best interest for both LFC and himself to go separate ways. Forget about the outlay and whatsoever, just try to recoup as much as possible.

    Just hope those management people know how to spend money shrewdly on players. Since FSG took over the club, there's hardly any good deals on players aside from LS, maybe, DS and maybe, Coutinho. Never try to be a big spender when the club is no longer reaping the gold mine of the champions league for years. I hate to see the club do a Leeds Utd or Hicks/Gillett reign's LFC, with nobody dares to say that it is not possible.

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  17. Downing recently scored in two games in a row - with that in mind, how does he fail the 'winning mentality' test?

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  18. Whether we recoup what we paid for him or not is irrelevant. All that matters is whether we could get better value from an alternative player than what we are getting from Downing.


    And I agree with @Akshay that we could get +£10m for Downing (+his wages off the bill), which could bring in a better player - both in the short-term and the long-term.

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  19. We need quality experienced, first team players to lead the team forwards.

    Young reserves/ cheap players are supposed to fill in as squad players, not the highest paid members of the squad...

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  20. to be fair to downing he did set up chances last season, u cant really blame him for the likes of kuyt and Carroll not taking their chances against Swansea where Carroll hit the bar with an empty goal and kuyt v man utd at anfield, also coutinho only really has 2 months experience cos it was the end of january he signed

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  21. GO AWAY KKANWAR

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  22. What's a winning mentality test?

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  23. I hp downing stays cz hz rily improvd dis season i liked de goal he scored in the Europa league 4rm hz weaker foot dt went past fly the goalie bt i bet next season he wil b uzd as sub dts if we buy anada winger bt enwe credit 2 him en Hendo

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  24. Hey oldman y say downing fails on doz points en he wil b gon,if it wz nt 4 downing 2 net de equaliser against spurs do u think we cud hv won dt game,chek de goal he scored in the Europa league against Udinese dt wz a cracker wit hz weaker foot while we fielded a strong team,suarez,Gerrard an co did nt deliver so wt wining mentality dz he lack?hz deserves anada chance cz hz improved lst season he wz unlucky hitn de post several tymz plus the high price tag on hz neck and de pressures of a big club

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  25. He's improved but I think fans are exaggerating his importance to the side.I think we could do with a upgrade in his position.If we can get good money for him we should wrap him up and put him in a DHL van.
    I think this will be another summer that we struggle to get decent money for flops/benchwarmers so it wouldn't surprise me if BR changes his mind to raise extra funds.

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  26. I totally agree, this hype of Downing improving so much is way over the top. Sure he has more goals and assists this year but it's very hard to not improve from absolutely nothing. It's not like he's worth 20 million all of a sudden. Going by your figures, that's four million per assist! Combined with his appalling behaviour towards the fans, he's still top of my list to get rid of in the summer.

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  27. I see my comment was deleted for pointing out the statistical inaccuracies in the article. And me here thinking this site was about constructive criticism :-)

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