18 Oct 2013

'Massively disappointed': Molby bemoans LFC failure to sign 'perfect' €30m maestro.

Over the summer, Liverpool lost out on several high-profile 'marquee' signings, and although the club is doing well in the league right now, Anfield legend Jan Molby is still smarting over the collapse of the club's summer move for Armenian maestro Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

For a few tantalising weeks, it seemed that Brendan Rodgers would definitely pull of a major transfer coup, but alas, it wasn't to be. The Armenian signed for Borussia Dortmund instead, and in his column for 5-Times this week, Molby observed:

"I was massively disappointed when we weren't able to get Henrikh Mkhitaryan. He would have been perfect for what we needed, an extra bit of quality and real signal of intent.

"He has settled really well at Dortmund, Diego Costa can`t stop scoring either, but if we are to find a positive from it, the scouting network are certainly doing their job and spotting the right players"


"Liverpool have lost out on one of their major transfer targets after Shakhtar Donetsk's Henrikh Mkhitaryan agreed a £21.5m move to Borussia Dortmund"

Molby's former team-mate, John Aldridge expressed similar sentiments recently, when he tweeted:

"It's a blow. He [Mkhitaryan] would have been a great signing: height, strength, goals and more"

Speaking to reporters recently, Mkhitaryan - who cost Dortmund €27.5m - revealed the reason why he rejected the Reds. He told Eurosport:

“Liverpool have a great past, but Borussia Dortmund has a great present. I made this decision with my heart. I have followed the Bundesliga in Ukraine and I know the standard is very high. I’m looking forward to it. I’m not worried about the transfer fee – I hope Dortmund don’t regret a cent of it.”

Clearly, Dortmund's Champions League status was a major attraction to Mkhitaryan, and that's entirely understandable, and until the Reds are able to compete on the same level, signings of this calibre may continue to be an elusive dream.

When all is said and done, though, Dortmund took concrete ACTION. They made an offer, and showed that they WANTED Mkhitaryan. At the time, Shakhtar Chief Executive Sergi Palkin confirmed that Liverpool failed to make bid, and holding out in the hope of getting the midfielder on the cheap obviously didn't work, and probably sent the wrong message to the player.

You've got to be in it to win it, and who knows what might've happened if Liverpool had matched Dortmund's offer Still, chin-up - according to Reds legend Bruce Grobbelaar, Rodgers will sign a 'great name' in January. In a radio interview this week, he told Metro FM:

"In the January window, you will see another great name come to Liverpool. I’m not going to give any clues about who it’s going to be, but there’s a big name coming to Liverpool".

I'll believe it when I see it.

Author:


22 comments:

  1. It's all for the best, trying to pronounce his name, even reading it, gives me a headache, as I'm sure it would the rest of the team - it would unsettle everybody. No use crying over spilled milk - sure there were reasons no bids went through - probably because Suarez was close to leaving and the funds might need to be allocated elsewhere.
    I'm sure that there will be good pickins' from teams that fail to advance in the CL of equal or better quality - statements like "liverpool has a great past, but XXX has a great present - won't come into play.
    I agree on the statement about the scouting network - though the players didn't arrive, at least they identified great players with a low-profile.

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  2. Also, I believe the term "Maestro" is earned and not given. Pirlo, Iniesta, Ozil, Mata - are Meastros. Coutinho, McTarrian - not quite.

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  3. mata is a must

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  4. coutinho is not good enough and needs some serious competion
    chelsea have willian ,mata,oscar and hazard all better then him spent a total of 103 m
    arsernal have ozil,carzola,chamberlaain all cost 67m


    while lfc has coutinho for only 8m
    and who is not good enough


    man utd and villa performance have to be the worst ever delivered by a lfc player
    some serious competition is needed
    weather it is pastore or mata


    but coutinho should not be a starter

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  5. Coutinho is good enough. He had 6 goals/assists in 12 games last season. That's good considering he had to adapt to the pace of the Premier League and that's difficult for a player coming from Serie A which we have seen on so many occasions and what looks like what is happening to Lamela. Coutinho has had a slow start to the season on his assist and goals rate but to say he isn't good enough is ridiculous. When he got injured you could see the players lose spirit at that point and less chances were created because of it. The lad is still young and is only going to improve. You mention the prices of these players but the cost of a player does not say how good the player is. Willian has not looked impressive for Chelsea. In fact people weren't overwhelmed by Oscar at first but the fact we paid 8m for Coutinho shows what a good piece of business it was.


    The price of a player does not mean he will be a good signing
    Torres to Chelsea 50m
    Shevchenko to Chelsea
    Carrol to Liverpool 35m
    Denilson Sau Paulo to Real Betis 22m
    Robbie Keane to Liverpool 22.5m

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  6. Molby is not alone with that regret. A crying shame it is but also a clear sign of how we are no longer regarded a top team with a great future by the world's best players. Let's hope that will change soon.

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  7. AndWithSuchSimplicity9:26 pm, October 18, 2013

    I think if we had managed to keep the deal quiet we may have got him, but it's the agent's job to tout him around and get the best deal for his client, which is what he did. There's no evidence we didn't make an offer, and at the time there was a lot of misinformation coming from his club and various other sources.

    As for signing a "big name" I always worry about that. Yes, it would be great to have a marquee signing, but you don't want it to spoil the blend we currently have.

    Talk of 'Big Name' signings always remind me of when Celtic signed Dariusz Dziekanowski in the 90's. Having lost out on Mo Johnston (no idea where he went), Billy McNeill was under pressure to deliver a big name. At the press conference, some hack said "I thought you promised us a big name?", to which McNeill allegedly replied "It's 19 F@@@@@@ letters....What more do you want?"...... !!! :)

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  8. “There has been lots of players linked but the fact is we really only had one (top target) and unfortunately we didn't get the chance to speak to that player before he moved from Shakhtar.

    “We had spoken to Shakhtar, we had got permission to speak to him but unfortunately I didn't get the chance to sit down in front of him. It was already in place with Dortmund so that was disappointing."

    These were the words of Rodgers after Mkhitaryan joined Dortmund. The player turned us down, there is nothing the club could have done about the situation.

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  9. Mo Johnston went to Rangers I think. My friend who's a Celtic fan moans about it every now and then. "It was supposed to be the prodigal son returns"

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  10. Coutinho has the potential to be a maestro though. He's only young.

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  11. Agreed. At present he's not there yet. If he gets 10 assists this year - he can be called Maestro.

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  12. I don't think as a player(forget about being a fan but just a professional who wants accolades and money) even you'd not consider LFC looking at our present positions in the league and failure to qualify for CL. For a player its a club in decline whereas clubs like THFC, BVB, Atletico Madrid, etc are the ones rising above.

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  13. Spurs are seen ahead of us because of London.

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  14. Haha omg I said Downing...I must miss him more than I would like to admit haha. I meant Henderson...

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  15. I agree. I completely understand him going to Dortmund over us.

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  16. Don't worry about London mate. London is not that big a factor for all players. It's not like Manchester or Liverpool are remote villages is it. If you grow up in Armenia in the sticks somewhere, or in Ireland or in Holland or wherever, there is plenty to do in Liverpool. If you look at people's basic needs, what does London have what Liverpool doesn't? You don't exactly see the Arsenal squad flocking towards the west end do you?

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  17. Well, there league position in recent years also have been above us if you take a look at that and as you said the pull if London works like a charm. I feel THFC will come strong might be very strong after the winter break just like we did last season but just like we were they'll also be probably too slow to compensate.

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  18. I'm pretty sure Brendan Rodgers said that we were in for him but he chose Dortmund. The player's comments at least support that - why else did he talk about choosing Dortmund over Liverpool if we were not in for him?
    The fact that we were trying to sign such players was a signal of intent. Yes, we didn't succeed but at least we were in for those types of players.

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  19. AndWithSuchSimplicity10:32 am, October 19, 2013

    I think the French players tend to favour London clubs purely because they can get on the Eurostar after the game and spend Sunday back home......

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  20. AndWithSuchSimplicity10:35 am, October 19, 2013

    I know he did. I just didn't want to mention their name on a 'family' site......

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  21. I love Glen J but think it wise to have a dependable backup plan. I really like Kelly but his injuries past makes it hard to count n him. It's also unclear whether he is better as a cd or a rb. Montoya does look like a talent but one highlight clip is hard to judge by. If he or Ilori need some game time, use them in the midfield and have Lucas and SG yield some minutes. If BR fells neither could handle that like Carra did early on, then midfield is still the biggest hole. I would try Ilori or even Montoya long before Allen. As I have said here often, our lack of creativity, size and pace at mids kill us. Henderson works his ass off but may not provide enough offensive skills and don't get me started on Allen........

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  22. that is the point bloody ignoramus, baby didnt have a clue, and that was the stress, 40 000 people shouting. plus their necks should be fixed with more than his arm.

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