Last summer, Anfield legend Mark Lawenson hailed Norwich's decision to sign Dutch striker Ricky Van Wolfswinkel, who was linked with Liverpool many times in the past. Van Wolfswinkel has struggled to make an impact in the Premier League this year, and according to Lawro, he's one of the flops of the season.
Roy Hodgson tried to sign Van Wolfswinkel in 2010, and after agreeing a deal with Norwich, Lawro told the BBC:
"Signing van Wolfswinkel is a shrewd move by the Canaries.
"He will improve them for next season [and] help them get over the line in terms of safety"
Van Wolfswinkel - who cost Norwich €10m - did not 'improve' Norwich at all, and he contributed only one goal in thirty games as the Canaries plummeted to relegation.
Clearly, Lawro got it spectacularly wrong with this one. It happens to us all, though. For example, I was enthusiastically in favour of Liverpool signing Mamadou Sakho, and like RVW at Norwich, he's made little impact at LFC.
Lawro has now acknowledged his error, and in his column for the BBC this week, the former Reds defender scathed:
"Van Wolfswinkel [is] one of the biggest disappointments of the season. It's s been a nightmare for him but...I would keep him, though, and hope he scores the goals to get them out of the Championship."
Looks like Liverpool dodged a major bullet here. RVW has struggled this season, but in his defence, he's suffered with injuries, which will always disrupt a player's settling-in period.
In my view, there are several other players in the Prem this year who are bigger disappointments, including Fellaini, Soldado, and Lamela, all of whom cost significantly more than RVW.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
Roy Hodgson tried to sign Van Wolfswinkel in 2010, and after agreeing a deal with Norwich, Lawro told the BBC:
"Signing van Wolfswinkel is a shrewd move by the Canaries.
"He will improve them for next season [and] help them get over the line in terms of safety"
Van Wolfswinkel - who cost Norwich €10m - did not 'improve' Norwich at all, and he contributed only one goal in thirty games as the Canaries plummeted to relegation.
Clearly, Lawro got it spectacularly wrong with this one. It happens to us all, though. For example, I was enthusiastically in favour of Liverpool signing Mamadou Sakho, and like RVW at Norwich, he's made little impact at LFC.
Lawro has now acknowledged his error, and in his column for the BBC this week, the former Reds defender scathed:
"Van Wolfswinkel [is] one of the biggest disappointments of the season. It's s been a nightmare for him but...I would keep him, though, and hope he scores the goals to get them out of the Championship."
Looks like Liverpool dodged a major bullet here. RVW has struggled this season, but in his defence, he's suffered with injuries, which will always disrupt a player's settling-in period.
In my view, there are several other players in the Prem this year who are bigger disappointments, including Fellaini, Soldado, and Lamela, all of whom cost significantly more than RVW.
Jaimie Kanwar
NOTE: Please stick to the Comment Policy (Click to read)
Most people would have thought Van Wolfsw... would have done well for Norwich. He will come good.
ReplyDeleteAlot of us norwich fans have hammered RVW but i still have faith in him and he will become good he needs to hit the gym hard and make himself stronger. Also norwich city kinda made him a massive media hype at the start of the season what didnt help. Good article though glad you was honest and not wrote the poor guy off! Good luck next season Liverpool! Hope to play u boys again soon!
ReplyDeleteEvery year we are linked with almost 30 possible siginings, so we weren't lucky. Van Wolfswinkel was never a serious target.
ReplyDeleteI feel sorry for him as I think he can score goals but not the way Norwich played most of the season, it's true he does need to man up a bit so gym time for him but well worth keeping. Maybe the championship will toughen him up and he can become the player we all hoped he would be.
ReplyDeleteBit too early for those kinds of thoughts.
ReplyDeleteRealistic Buying As per Transfer Rumours
ReplyDeleteLB: ,Ashey Cole,Marcel Schmelzer(10M)
CB: Caulker/Jonathan Tah(8M)
LW: Adam Lallana(25M)
CDM : Ignacio camacho/Emre can(6M)
GK: Michel Vorm(5M)
Total Spending: 54M
Realistic Selling As per Rumours
Pepe Reina(4M)
Iago Aspas(7M)
Coates(4M)
Assaidi(5M)
Total Selling: 20M
Total Net Spending= 54M-20M-60M(Transfer Budget)
Total Saving= 34 M
Now Ian Dunkin Dounuts Ayre and Greedy Commitee will once again CON the fans sayin we tried our best but the players(Quality Players) just did not want to come to us even though we were in the champions League....LOL
I am sure we will not be paying anywhere near £30 million for this dud even if we sign him. Agree that Diame who has premiership experience and will cost much cheaper is by far the better option. If Brendan has a £70 million kitty he will not spend nearly half on a defensive midfielder when he could have got Costa for £2 million more.
ReplyDeleteAdd a forward to the shopping list. We're screwed if Sturridge or Suarez get injured as Borini and Aspas are both crap.
ReplyDeleteSpurs should sign him seeing they always use our scouts. They'll have to sign such players seeing they missed out on a champions league spot by a country mile.
ReplyDeleteMignolet/ vorm
ReplyDeleteFlannagan/ wisdom skrtel/ kelly sakho / rojo enrique / bertrand
Gerrard/ diame
Sterling/ henderson griezmannn/ suso
Coutinho/ lallana
Sturridge / borini suarez/ remy
what do you think for next season? Realistic targets? Good team guys?
Well i got remy in the team also bro lol. We need 4 to be honest.
ReplyDeleteSell jonson, reina , agger, lucas aspas, assaidi, . Loan ibe, ilori, alberto. Keep allen squad player
ReplyDeleteI'm not convinced we need any new CBs; we have four very decent centre backs with a good mix of youth and experience and most importantly, all players that want to play for Liverpool. The main thing for me is keeping a consistent back four. Sakho will get better with more experience and toure brings the experience of CL football and title winning run ins.
ReplyDeleteJohnson will still be 1st choice with flanno as potential backup. Need a new LB to share with flanno as well. Would be tempted to look at vertonghen (10 mill); also gives excellent cover at CB if you do need to mix it up.
CM - I would keep all four, gerrard, Allen, Lucas and Henderson. Add one new defensively minded player; either mascherano (12), m villa (10) or carvalho (25 max)
AM/winger - bring back suso, keep coutinho, sterling and give Alberto one more season to settle. Then add 1 or 2 players who can really add something. All lama, firmin, reus
Finally, one striker that can add some champions league pedigree - might be a little against the fsg ethos and maybe against some fans ideas but I would go for one of either villa or Torres. I think they can both still offer something in
I'd love 2 c Marco reus in a Liverpool shirt he wud b unreal, sheamus Coleman at rb and a top notch cb keep agger and Enrique and either Barkley r lalana and Remy r Muriel wud b good in case Sturbridge r Suarez get injured,
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I never see much of Ricky van Wolfswinkel so there's nothing I could comment on. But honestly with fans like youself, Norwich City deserve to be in the EPL. See you in EPL season 15-16.
ReplyDeleteAgain, you are dreaming instead of giving true news. Stop dreaming bro.
ReplyDeleteRues alone will costs 50m pound i guess.
ReplyDeletewish list is great but as i said in my other comment we need LB,CB DM, AM ST and i think we need a RB JF will not get the automatic first team but as a first team squad player. its much more than the first 11, its the first 21, id go back in for masca for 9m SG AL left and right of the diamond 3 interchanging forwards costa all day, but i wouldn't be surprised if its not tevez from juve. Thats been whispered over here but i've got 2 friends who are born and bread Juve fans and theres credible links over there linking him with us some reckon nailed on, the masca link then sounds like something in it. him luis and Daniel upfront is scary thought. cointreau would be my LB - CB is hard so many and such a hit and miss area. We need a bigger squad so the likes of PC, JH LL DA Players linked with moves away is bollocks. They are part of the first team squad who will play a lot of games but you can not replace with the same quality how are settled in the team as its a team game not first 11. asps boreini etc will leave not some of the first team starts from this season. I know this is a dream but any day no matter the price, Ross Barclay perfect replacement for SG. he's a blue but if he's wanting to win things and progress on the best stages he can, with respect he won't do that at Everton. Too many teams above them with money i.e UTD, spurs, Arsenal, City, Chelsea and us. They had a good season with borrowed players and other teams under preforming - next season not even close to the top 6. He stays proud and goes nowhere or, he puts him ambition and career first and comes to us
ReplyDeletewhat you play too much football manager. we need to keep hold of the experienced players like LL JH etc, we need a squad and player that are use to playing in that squad coming in for injuries, rests. rotation. why the hell you get rid of 13 players and replace them with who? and how much? We have a small squad as it is, we need to add not get rid. PR, ASPS etc who hasn't worked out then yes, but not players who may be replaced by better played.
ReplyDeleteNice article in the Guardian that dovetails with this one:
ReplyDeletehttp://www.theguardian.com/football/blog/2014/may/14/premier-league-season-predictions-accurate-guardian-readers
Coentrao is not good enough..
ReplyDeleteDemichelis is still a liability i expect City will give him the flick.
ReplyDeleteGo for Rakitic
ReplyDeleteJerico9, i do not play football manager. 13 players. 2 of them are loan signings.
ReplyDeleteGK: B Jones(32) is not good enough to compete with S Mignolet(25), he needs better class quality competiton for his place.
GK: P Reina(31) is world class Gk and better than S Mignolet(25) but due to his huge salary and his letter before he went on loan B Rodgers will ship him out.
CB: S Coates(23) is simply not good enough and should be sold asap
CB: K Toure(33) is 6 years past his best, he was brought to club for class and experience but he was mistake prone player and should be shipped out.
RB: M Kelly(23) was good when first came on the scene but for last 3-4 years of every season M Kelly(23) is on the treatment table for 90% of season yet £25,000-£45,000 a week still goes in his account what a waste.
DM: L Leiva(27) since his big injury has not been back to his best and struggles to fit in with system as he lacks mobility, pace and speed.
CM: J Allen(24) is a good passer of ball but offers the club very little but nice passing side to side and backwards. Too Lightweight in middle of park also
AM: L Alberto(21) simply not good enough club spent £6.7M on him in summer, he is older than sterling(19) and same age as Coutinho(21) if he was good enough he would have played last season but he is not and B Rodgers should cut his losses asap.
RW: O Assaidi(25) is class quality winger but not a top 1-5 club player, he is more a top 11- 18 club player and should be sold to stoke for £3-£5M
FD: I Aspas(26) is too lightweight and not a top 1-5 club player at all. He may have been great in spain but the premiership is a different ball game and he has struggled badly, B Rodgers should sell him to Valencia for £6-£7M
FD: F Borini(22) is good young striker, but his goals to game ratio is poor compared to Sturridge(24) and Suarez(27). As he is not a top 1-5 club striker, he is a mid table player/striker. He looks out of his depth whenever he has played with fully fit squad and came on, he should be sold to Sunderland for £7-£9M
And the two abyzmal loan signings need to be shipped out now: LB: A Cissokho(27) and LW: V Moses(22)
There is no point keeping players on good wages/salaries if they do not contribute very much to the success of club.
B Rodgers needs to do some serious surgery to squad as our club has 13/14 good players out of 25 man squad that is not good enough
are you by any chance Roy Hodgson? we need top class players, not squad players...say we bring in poulsen?
ReplyDeletereasonable...
ReplyDeleteWilliam carvalho...?
ReplyDeleteVery funny, in defence we need class quality players, players better than what we currently have:
ReplyDeleteA Mccarthy(24) Or M Vorm(30) is better than B Jones(32)
D Lovren(24) and S Caulker(22) are better than S Coates(23) and K Toure(33) who we have in reserve
N Clyne(23) is better and not injury prone like M Kelly(23)
B Davies(20) is left footed quicker than J Flannagan(21) , B Davies(20) is a better Left back than J Flannagan(21)
And Y M'Vila(23) is more mobile, quicker, physically stronger, harder in tackle, better in air than L Leiva(27)
So Nrajyv, All the players i have mentioned B Rodgers should bring to club this summer are upgrades on what we currently have in reserves, so we have stronger bench and more class, quality competition for places. Its just we do not have to pay ridiculous amounts of money to get good class quality players in at all for our defensive players.
Who do sterling, coutinho and flanno compete with jamie?? Lol I get your point bit end of the day Illori is up against skrtle sakho agger and toure.....flanno only has an on-loan and under-achieving Cissoko......sterling and coutinho are by and large first choice in their positions........
ReplyDeleteSo what? Buy a falcao-type star to chill on the bench til such game?
ReplyDeleteWith 60 games in stead of 40 players will get time. Plus there is a lot between Falcao and Borini
ReplyDeleteI think we need 5-6 players 2CB 1LB 1AM 1Striker 1Winger and possible a few more. CB mats hummels+mascherano LB Marcelo Moreno or coentrao. AM lallana WINGER Reus or someone like that! Striker griezmann
ReplyDeleteI don't think Rick Parry will have anything to do with transfers anymore. He left the club a few years ago!!
ReplyDeleteLB alberto moreno (sevilla:15m), Hummels or Garay (both 25-28m), and Isco (25m)
ReplyDeletePaying an alleged 18m for Sakho constitutes a far bigger transfer flop than RVW. Sakho has lost us crucial points and the league title. We would be lucky to sell him for 5m, which is to say he is unsellable.
ReplyDeleteI totally agree Elmo about Ilori. But I also think Kelly, if fully fit could be a gem for us.
ReplyDeleteLB: Moreno
ReplyDeleteAM: Lallana
FW: Pedro / Kono (not CB)
Rather BR work on Sakho, Agger and Skertel and perhaps bleed Illori in then spend lot of money on another CB over a top quality forward.
Husni
I think we really need a DM/M/AM, someone like Yaya Toure. One LB, honestly I don't mind Ashley Cole since Flanno and Enrique has that covered. I think Flanno and Wisdom is good but won't mind a quality RB. Others would be a bonus, perhaps a F/LW? Remember that Suso, Borini (whom I think can handle the cup games) and coming back.
ReplyDeleteKelly will never be fully fit. Cissoko will go. Agger Skyrtel and Johnson are liabilities and Toure is a journeyman. I still think Mignolet is a liability, doubtful if any of our top opponents would choose him over their current keeper. Allen and Lucas just don't cut it, ok as squad players but we really looked pedestrian when Henderson was missing and you could see the pattern that we suffered last year, loads of possession but unable to break down a barn door re emerge. So we need half a team / defensive and a link to turn defence into attack. Re Hummels, Muller, Coentrao, popping out famous players as options is lazy journalism. Watching the Bundesliga week in/out I wouldn't want either the aforementioned at Liverpool and I don't think that is Brendan's style. I would love to see some rock solid classy Italian defender, defensive midfielder. I see Moreno at Seville is linked with the left back slot but also would take a punt on Ashley Cole for a year or two, he didn't kick a ball all year and went straight in and looked like a rolls Royce compared to our current options. And let's remember that A lot of Brendan's tenure/energy up to now has been lost getting rid of the dross, this summer will be no different. Fenway need to put their hand in their pockets, Brendan has just won manager of the season and yet the last transfer window was a farce and to compete at the top level but forced to scour the bargain bins of Europe buying 5-6 7 million quid rough diamonds hoping they cut it, isn't going to bring success. This wasn't so much an approach as opposed to a necessity to try and get bodies in to make up a squad.
ReplyDeleteIt's also been shown that you'll play if you're absolute rubbish. Johnson, Sakho, Allen, Lucas etc etc etc
ReplyDeleteBorini could do a very good job for us if given a fair crack of the whip. Suso no. I've seen Coentrao stacks of times for Madrid - nothing special although obviously vastly superior to the likes of Johnson.
ReplyDeletegoalkeeper
ReplyDeleteDiame and Remy are rubbish and definitely not top players. We should aim higher.
ReplyDeleteMascherano, Lallana, cole, muller and a top cb. Keep borini, suso and illori for back up and then promote wisdom, smith, ibe and tiexeria
ReplyDelete"His load spell". Excuse me while i have inpure thoughts for å moment :)
ReplyDeleteLook at it this way mate, it's not like you've spent 35 million on Andy Carrol or a combined 15 million on Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto :-)
ReplyDeleteWhy is everyone so hard on Sakho. I don't really get what he has done to deserve the flak. Ok he hasn't set the world alight, but he's a defender. He has been solid enough, and from my memory hasn't made too many glaring or costly errors.
ReplyDeleteWhat points are these? Seriously, I cant remember.
ReplyDeleteMarco Reus will not leave Dortmund the club he loves and supports! - Ivan Rakitic is the player we NEED that's a fact and I also would love Adam Lallana on top of that deal as well as left back Rodriguez from Wolfsburg! A back up AM option should be Roberto Firmino from Hoffenheim - as for CB Ezequiel Garay would be the absolute best option but perhaps Dejan Lovren a more realistic cheaper option who already has PL experience
ReplyDeleteJust one CD and not two?? Sakho any good, if Agger leaves?? Attacking midfielder and not a defensive one?? Lucas or Allen any good?? SG any good?? That's why there were such gaping holes in front of our defence and in it all season?? Because they were doing a good job??
ReplyDeleteIvan Rakitic is the perfect player to eventually replace Stevie he is already World Class and can play in DM CM or AM - he would cost 30m but believe me he would be worth it big time!
ReplyDeleteRichards
ReplyDeleteLallana
Shaw
Sanchez
Konoplyanka
m'villa
Go into Europe with that central midfield and watch what happens.
ReplyDelete