Liverpool striker Luis Suarez has reportedly turned his hand to scouting this week, and Uruguay striker has urged LFC boss Brendan Rodgers to sign fellow countryman Kevin Mendez.
According to The Mirror:
"Liverpool are trailing teenage striker Kevin Mendez after a glowing report from Luis Suarez".
"Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and Liverpool all scouted the Penarol forward in last summer's Under-17s World Cup".
Known as 'La Perla de Peñarol' (The Pearl of Penarol), and (inevitably), the 'new Tevez', 17-year old Mendez has scored 4 goals so far for Uruguay's U17 team, but he appears to have limited experience of actually playing for Peñarol.
His performances in the U17 World Cup particularly impressed Barcelona, and according to Spanish newspaper SPORT, the Catalan club is preparing a £6m bid for the youngster.
A recommendation from Suarez is one thing, but if Liverpool were to buy Mendez, Suarez would probably be gone by the time youngster actually signed in at Anfield (!)
As I've argued many times, though, signing teenage strikers is an exercise in futility, and any young, inexperienced striker who makes the mistake of coming to LFC's academy can look forward to years of frustration, followed by probable obscurity.
It could be a moot point anyway as Mendez appears to favour a move to Barcelona. When asked about a move to the Nou Camp in October, he told La Xarxa:
"Barça rumours? I'm a Barça fan and it'd be an honour to join them"
Author: Jaimie K
According to The Mirror:
"Liverpool are trailing teenage striker Kevin Mendez after a glowing report from Luis Suarez".
"Barcelona, Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and Liverpool all scouted the Penarol forward in last summer's Under-17s World Cup".
Known as 'La Perla de Peñarol' (The Pearl of Penarol), and (inevitably), the 'new Tevez', 17-year old Mendez has scored 4 goals so far for Uruguay's U17 team, but he appears to have limited experience of actually playing for Peñarol.
His performances in the U17 World Cup particularly impressed Barcelona, and according to Spanish newspaper SPORT, the Catalan club is preparing a £6m bid for the youngster.
A recommendation from Suarez is one thing, but if Liverpool were to buy Mendez, Suarez would probably be gone by the time youngster actually signed in at Anfield (!)
As I've argued many times, though, signing teenage strikers is an exercise in futility, and any young, inexperienced striker who makes the mistake of coming to LFC's academy can look forward to years of frustration, followed by probable obscurity.
It could be a moot point anyway as Mendez appears to favour a move to Barcelona. When asked about a move to the Nou Camp in October, he told La Xarxa:
"Barça rumours? I'm a Barça fan and it'd be an honour to join them"
Author: Jaimie K
Barca will be getting one of the most talented young players out there then, and this isn't strange for they have a history of getting great players when they're young and making them the best of the best.
ReplyDeleteThis is a very very talented player that has all the qualities that most modern youngsters miss.
Uruguayan bias aside - this kid looks amazing. Great first touch, great passing, excellent through ball, good hustle, good pressing/tackle, good cross, his finishing could use a little work, but looks like the real deal. Plays a lot like Suarez. Hopefully he goes somewhere he gets consistent play.
ReplyDelete"volcanic self-confidence", brilliant.
ReplyDeleteNo, but he's not breaking his back for LFC either. I'm of the opinion that if he was good enough and tried hard enough, then he would be a regular starter. Truth is he's a big player at a small club like Wigan (sorry Wigan), but has not cut it at a larger club. As for African Player of the Year....WTF! Surely there are better players! Who have actually played in the last year!
ReplyDeleteLets not stop at strikers. The Youth Development System at LFC has been appalling for years, and is why there was such massive investment from 2009. In the last 20 years only Carra, Gerrard, Owen, Macca and Fowler have come through and flourished.... So its fair to say the process has been broken for a long time. However, with the likes of Flannagan, Kelly, Sterling, Ibe all on the fringes perhaps its premature to write off the current (and new?) LFC setup
ReplyDeleteMoses can f**k off back to reserves at Chelsea
ReplyDeleteAgger was a bit cheeky
Alberto is ok - "I have to wait for manger to have confidence in me" shows humility
A Liverpool member who attends games but I hate premature optimism,especially with Utd.They've been there,done that,we've nothing in comparison.
ReplyDeleteIt will be Aspas next, fit or not, he doesn't look like he will make it.
ReplyDeleteAllen, Borini, Assiaidi, Sahin, Cissoko........ Rodgers does seem unusually hit or very much 'miss' at signing players. But I suppose this is what happens when the greatest club in the world employs a rookie manager still learning the job.
Looks very good in those clips
ReplyDeleteWe should sign him, even if it just encourages Suarez to stay a little longer, to look after his compatriot
Hopefully Aguero continues his form and Real move for him instead. The fact that Suarez is not cup tied in Europe is a big worry for January
We simply MUST get top four, sell him in summer if he wants to go, then splurge on replacement
Not getting top 4 could really be curtains for us in terms of ever being a contender for anything
CL money set to double with BTs recent successful monopoly of all European football
The rich will get richer
I don't get it. That is our biggest rival and you have a need to say ''get real'' to somebody from your side thinking that we are better than them. I wouldn't do it after I don't know how many dissapointing years. Especially not while we are ahead of them, after winning the derby..
ReplyDeleteFirst goal in the CL, ha? And a point more...
ReplyDeleteThat was one game two months ago, 38 in the season,I'm thinking of squad size,player form etc. For example if we lose SG/LL through injury we've no option but play JA,if they lose MC,MF,or even TC their squad is bigger and more position-flexible.If Luis gets inj we've to play Moses/Alberto,if they lose RVP or WR they've Welbeck or Chico as back-up.I'm not having a pop just being pragmatic.
ReplyDeleteWhat the actual fuck? You are vermin, cancerous and you need stopping. Somebody please take this cunts keyboard off him.
ReplyDeleteMoses is in no position to threaten anything.
ReplyDeleteHe started well, but In real terms has contributed very little when played more recently. He's on loan and is unlikely to oust Mata as next in line at Chelsea.
He needs to wow BR with a top performance , then maybe he can expect more game time
I think you can say the same thing for every other big club out there. When a player comes through the academy, he needs to make an impact on his first appearance for the first team, that's if the opportunity ever comes. Unless he blows up on the scene like Michael Owen, his development can only happen if he is loaned out. The starlets that get playing time, are the ones in the lesser/ smaller teams. For a team like Liverpool, where there is a experienced top player in every position, its hard for a youngster to even get playing time. Look at Sterling and Ibe. I still think our academy is very good though. We have young players with good technical skills. Their bodies are still developing, and we can only decide if they are good enough when they hit that 21 years of age mark. Even in the pros, it would take a genetic freak to play at the age of 18. Owen was just that, no one could get near him with his pace, Sterling doesn't have that explosiveness even though he is deemed fast. Lukaku however is a monster for his age, Chelsea are playing very smart by loaning him out to Everton and Chelsea, by the time he gets back to Chelsea, he will be the finished article. My hope is Suso will become a regular or give the lineup a selection headache when he comes back from loan.
ReplyDeleteGuillem balague has said that Real cannot afford Suarez this Jan and the player has no desire to move in Jan. He is supposedly very close to Pep Guardiola and Pere his brother is Suarez's agent. Could be reliable. Lets hope he is right.
ReplyDeleteOf course he wants to play. He's an ambitious, talented, competitive football player. If he wasn't bothered at not playing every week then he'd be unlikely every other player in the league. Rodgers also wants players with this attitude, players who are determined to play and contribute. It's part of the mental make-up that ensures full effort and commitment. The only thing going on here that maybe needs attention is how these comments are ending up getting media exposure. Maybe it's just that I'm not a City or Chelsea fan, but I don't see so many of their bench making these same comments. Are they? I'd be surprised, because there are guys who don't even make game day squads for those teams who would expect to start every game for another club.
ReplyDeleteThat the players feel this way isn't a surprise and it certainly isn't a problem. Ultimately they can say whatever they like, I don't really care, but maybe Rodgers needs to have some words with these guys and tell them to stop telling their story to the press and instead come directly to him. If they don't feel like they can talk to the manager about this or that they have to resort to making comments in the media to feel heard then that's the only point of possible concern. Even then it's a small thing and the only thing that needs to change is their own attitude to speaking out about these things.
The youngsters we currently have, not even Sterling are nowhere near the level of what Carra, Fowler, Gerrard, Macmanaman etc were. Maybe the coaching setup we had back in the 90's at every level was more suited to bringing through our local talent? Now it is more focused on bringing in and developing players fro m the outside.
ReplyDeleteLFC over the years have and still are pumping massive funds into the academy. It is becoming a bottomless pit so maybe FSG and Rodgers decided that a spring clean was needed.
There should be no excuses for the lack of local talent coming through. This is Liverpool FC we are talking about. There has not been one local lad which has made it big in the first team since Gerrard 15 years ago. Not even the outsourced players have managed to stamp their authority.
Change is as good as a holiday and hopefully for the better.
He looks very good but we have many quality youngsters as seen yesterday in Holland, PSV U21 (1) - Liverpool U21 (3). Apparently Liverpool were superb in the game, we have very good players at U21 level. Yesil is back fit which is good to see, I would certainly pay £3m for this kid as it is very low risk.
ReplyDeleteYeah was a good feeling after getting trashed by atletico 2 times ;) can't wait to watch the boys play with a lot of confidence against zenit in 2 weeks !
ReplyDeletePlayers take advantage of the press to get their messages/threats across, the press asks provocative questions to get headlines.
ReplyDeleteWith the money side of things if the club are able to create enough players that can play EPL even if not stars it can fund itself.
ReplyDeleteShelvey is a good example and he still gave the club some reasonable service also.
Although the real value still is in its ability to create the occasional star player.
I don't think it has much to do with the coaching set up, as it was eventually overhauled by Benitez. Like I said in a previous comment, there's only so much onus you can put on the coaches. Having said that, we want to develop stars yet we sack a man who worked with Messi and Fabregas...I agree about change but the new staff members better be good. Still no one appointed which suggests this wasn't planned.
ReplyDeletePerhaps it's just time. The players you mentioned were all great, and they all came through during the same time period, Gerrard during the latter of that period. Maybe we are entering a similar time now, there's a lot of hype about players like Rossiter and Lussey who trains with the first team.
I know this is LFC but it doesn't mean we have some sort of inherent right to produce players, just like winning the league and being in Europe. Initial funds to establish the academy may be significant but overall I don't think its upkeep is costly. Some have suggested we could scrap the academy and see no difference but that means you'd have to purchase any youngster on a pro contract and that's millions and millions.
No Gerrard the second has come through recently, but all the players you mentioned have finished their careers. Judge Suso, Sterling et al. after a few more years.
But then far too much noise has been made about the academy over the years. Gerrard was the last local lad to cement a place in the first team straight away 15 years ago and that is because he was good enough. No other youngsters local or from the outside have managed to do the same. Everytime somebody breaks through they do not manage to make a good enough impact and then go on loan.
ReplyDeleteI am not saying our academy is rubbish but surely it should have produced at least ONE player in the last 15 years at the same level as players like Macca, Fowler, Gerrard or Carra?
Truth be told, there haven't been any youngsters in a space of 15 years to cement a place at first team level which is a very long time. Signing players from other clubs like Coutinho and Sturridge is far easier so why go through all the trouble of nurturing kids from a very young age year after year after year after year till they are 18-20, get into the first team but are not good enough? That makes the academy pretty pointless, a waste of time if not one youngster has made it big in a space of 15 years.
Don't get me wrong because I definitely agree with you. However, I'm happy if the academy is producing players capable of being in the squad. And that, it clearly is doing. I definitely want that star player to come through, I think it's down to time, the individual himself and certainly luck.
ReplyDeleteThe academy is vital at a local level as it introduces young players and families to the club. As well as the odd foreign youngster, the academy is a potential source of home grown talent available to the club. There is no guarantee of quality.
Therefore if you compare the output of our academy amongst others in Premier League (you could also compare lower English leagues, Crew have a reputable youth system, for example) I think we will be amongst the top in terms of players who have come through and played a part in the squad.
I'm not ignoring your point of top quality stars though but as I said that may be down to other things such as time and luck. In terms of local talent, the club can't control who's born on Merseyside, the girls Gerrard had that we wish were boys and what club a family picks for their son when given the option, Everton/Liverpool/Other offer.
I'd have more sympathy with Moses' comments if he'd taken his chances when he had played & turned in quality performances. But the truth is that he's only been average.
ReplyDeleteThe other thing that could be holding back our own local lads are players like Jerome Sinclair, Sergi Canos and Samed Yesil. Is more attention given to players who arrive from the outside? It is great to have these three here but surely takes away the opportunity from our own.
ReplyDeleteThat is why I hope that the changes which have been made will be for the better.
I agree. Players who think they should play should basically just perform better. You cannot talk your way into the lineup. That's the sign of a lazy player who we're better off without.What do these guys think? We're on the bench at Chelsea and in Barcelona B but Liverpool are so horrible that we're sure to play there? They must be confusing us with Everton. Let them leave if they want to. They've had no impact what so ever on our season so there is nothing lost if they go.
ReplyDeleteThat may very well be true but at least he keeps his mouth shut and works for his chance. Personally I'm a big fan of Boilesen at Ajax. He made a joke out of Barca's attack and defense on Tuesday and he's young too. Him and Shaw at Soton but I think Boilesen would go for half what Shaw would cost
ReplyDeleteMy apologies for the lack of a comma. It's been rectified. Now you look silly not me, ner ner.
ReplyDeleteI think academies take natural talent and forge that talent into rock solid fundamentals, team play, field vision, etc and for that they are very valuable...but there is limit to the end-product which can only be stretched by an individual player's desire to succeed.
ReplyDelete