9 Jun 2014

Game Over: Exciting £4m LFC attacker to quit Anfield for Euro Giants. Big loss?

For whatever reason, Brendan Rodgers doesn't seem to rate Spanish youngster Suso, and it looks like the 20-year old's time at Anfield will come to an end this summer.

According to Portuguese newspaper O Jogo today:

* Suso is the 'number one transfer target' for new Porto boss Julen Lopetegui.

* Suso's Agent, Dani Rodriguez, has 'approved' a move to the Portuguese giants.

* £4m-rated Suso is 'certain to leave' Liverpool this summer, and the move will go through before the start of the new season.

If this turns out to be true, then it's disappointing. Suso clearly has a lot of talent, and with the right coaching/development, he could become a top class player, and save the Reds tens of millions in transfer fees.

Look at Raheem Sterling, for example. If Rodgers gave Suso the same level of pitch time, and showed similar faith in his ability, is it not possible that the Spaniard might blossom at Anfield?

Suso clearly wants to stay, as he recently told reporters:

"It's a dream to play at Anfield every weekend and in the Champions League, it's the best option that can happen. I would like to sign a new contract with Liverpool and stay there for many years."

It's entirely possible that there's some issue behind the scenes that's prompted Rodgers to lose faith. Indeed, in 2012, Reds legend Gary Gillespie - who covers youth games for LFC TV, and has done for years - hinted at this. He told LFC TV:

"From what I can gather, he [Suso] might’ve had a bit of an attitude problem at the Academy, possibly because he thought he was a too good for them. I think he's put those problems behind him though".

Gillespie is pretty plugged-in at Anfield so he would know about what goes on at the Academy. He was, however, quick to add:

"Sometimes it's good to have a little bit of attitude and arrogance as you need that at this sort of level".

Suso certainly has a touch of arrogance and confidence on the field, and that's a great thing to see a young player. Rodgers has also praised Suso in the past. Last year, for example, he raved:

"He is tactically very good, strong technically with the ball. He makes things happen. I love that type of player. Talent finds space. He is a real talent".

How things seem to have changed...

Author:


58 comments:

  1. If it was up to me then I would try to get him on a season long loan to another EPL club and then decide from there whether to keep or sell. To me it seems like another Pacheco in the making.

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  2. I always thought he was average. All the praise I read, I thought maybe I just overlooked him. Not on the path of a beater. He's good but not great.

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  3. at least when we get beat next year you can moan about suso

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  4. Maybe there is a buy back clause

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  5. Bon Voyage Suso and all the best.

    Great talent, but like we said in Croatia "vjeciti talent" .I cant' find proper translation, but it describe somebody who is great talent in youth ranks, but didn't translate this in his professional carrier.

    Didn't see too many games of Suso, but what I saw was nothing. I see good ball control and nothing else. No pace, no power, no imagination...

    Beleve me in Croatia you can find 100 Suso with same result.
    Second tier player.

    I'm more interested in Ibe. Even more than Sterling, who will be great player.

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  6. anthony montague8:19 pm, June 09, 2014

    Laughable the way the author of this site constantly belittles coaching standards at LFC. Suso will not develop to the required level. Nobody's fault, nobody to blame. No interest from any top Spanish side says it all.

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  7. Haha,rather Logan in da making, this lad is real gem,who is even beyond pacheco potential,the issue is these foreign lads are not given chance to fulfill their potentials at these day,if they want to develop only British young kids they shld tell us.I'm getting pissed of with this piece of shit,sofa journalist.

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  8. Why so serious?

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  9. Has great trickery, but lacks pace, an essential ingredient for the EPL, also into the last year of his contract, time to move him on, he is better suited to continental football, Seville would'nt even take him on a free loan, says it all.

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  10. LFC Croatia making a piece of sofa opinion ,go learn more about suso.

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  11. Yep, neither the pace of Sterling or the strength of Ibe.

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  12. No wonder Pinto da Costa has been making a lot of money from transfer for the the past decade,they get young talented lads for free or cheap either Europe or South America 3 to 4 years time they become world class players and sell them for huge fees.

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  13. Now this would be a bad bit of business for Liverpool.We should give him a chance in the cups and see what happens. And after Xmas if need be loan him out in the championship to a team like Derby( who we can trust with our young players ) and see if he can play at that level which in my opinion he would nail and then take him back or sell for more than 4 million . He went out on loan and done really well was the main man on the team so i fail to see the logic of selling such a promising talent or even loaning him to another foreign club.

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  14. Silva and Mata does not have that kind of pace

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  15. anthony montague8:54 pm, June 09, 2014

    Interesting the way some people think we just tell another club we will loan them a player. Don't happen. Has to be benefit to the other club, i.e. a top player.

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  16. I totally share your opinion stevo,if Brendon watched him at almeria,he wouldn't even try to sell him,a player with good vision,phenomenal ball control, great trickery,he has improved with his shooting of the ball as well since i watched him at the under 20 world cup,he looked the man who made things happen for them and deulofeu was scoring da goals,no wonder why julian lupetegui his former under 20 boss wants him at porto,this English league will always lack proper talent,it seems all this young Spanish lads at our academy will learn something from this only if suso departs.

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  17. He is into the last year of his contract, so we would need to offer him a new better deal, too costly for a fringe player, IMO.

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  18. anthony montague9:00 pm, June 09, 2014

    I am quite sure a manager of the quality of Rodgers was fully informed of his progress in Spain and came to the same opinion as the rest of La Liga and the EPL that he had made little if any progress

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  19. According to thisisanfield h may not actually be in his last year. There seems to be some confusion but not sure what end.

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  20. unfortunately liverpool are never smart enough to do this

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  21. Then Rodgers still lacks the vision to see the real gem in this lad,other than that he wouldn't let him go.

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  22. anthony montague9:11 pm, June 09, 2014

    Quote from Shankly in 60's " In football the cream will always rise to the top ". Still applies today so we will have to wait and see for Suso

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  23. If this deal is anything but a loan i'll be very dissapointed & for me it will raise question marks against all the other loanees & our use of the loan system as a whole. Imo Suso is a quality player, has done lots right & very little wrong & as such, deserves a crack at the first team squad next season. I'll maintain hope that Rodgers has a plan for Suso in future but it doesn't look good i must admit!

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  24. No wonder your boss has bought an average player and did activated his clause,haha somebody had eriksen,tried and tested player for cheap.Piece of shit sofa English premiere league.

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  25. Being reported on another pool site that the contract thing is mistaken information. They seem to think he signed another contract in 2012 I think they said. I'm not sure who is right or wrong here.

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  26. If he really wanted to stay he could refuse move and work his socks off to get in the side. Hendo did it but few have the stones for that kind of action.

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  27. He was a good 17 year-old but not such a great 20-year old. It happens. He'll have a decent career, and who knows, maybe in his mid-20s he'll be a real player once he's seen a bit more of football, and of life. But he's not got enough game for us.

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  28. anthony montague9:14 pm, June 09, 2014

    Brendan always stresses players have to be fearless , brave etc, so that makes me think twice about Suso

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  29. His Contract was my sticking point, it would cost investment which might need to be spent elsewhere

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  30. anthony montague9:19 pm, June 09, 2014

    Never looked at Eriksen and thought I wish we had him. He has found his level. good luck to him on Thursday nights.

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  31. Good point. There is that quote from him about youth players running through walls for you. That is the kind of attitude we want at the club.

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  32. anthony montague9:36 pm, June 09, 2014

    I always think of the time and money wasted on Ryan Babel, great technique and pace but the last one you would want in the trenches

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  33. And what guarantee does he know if the lad is fearless or not playing at your doorsteps and away from home how sure is he.Let's be fair these young foreign lads are sometimes overlooked no wonder,Chelsea bought matic back for a huge fee,and adem ljajic is also who was also overlooked by the 7th day utd.

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  34. I agree. Looked excellent in the first half of lasr season for Almeria. I'm surprised things have gone sour so quickly for him. I always expected to see Suso breaking into the first team before Sterling.

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  35. We have too many players like that. I wouldn't want Aspas anywhere near the team but at least he works hard. It should be a minimum but like in any job people get complacent.

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  36. Especially based on the 2012-13 season, when Suso was, in my opinion, more impressive than Sterling.


    Sterling made leaps and bounds this past season. I feel he is one of the top 5 young players in Europe at the moment, and he's not even 20 yet.


    Thankfully, it's one of the reasons why I'm not paid to make those decisions. If I had my druthers, I would have shipped off Sterling and kept Suso. Odds are it would not turned out as well.

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  37. I disagree in the sense that I think he could play here and do well.


    I'm just of the opinion that he's not going to be first choice if everyone is healthy.


    He's got enough game for us. He just doesn't have enough game to beat out the guys ahead of him on the depth chart.

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  38. In fairness, there's a reason why teams don't necessarily want to include this. If they get a player relatively cheap and he turns out to be a stud, the last thing they'll want is for him to be poached right back.


    Look at Can, for instance. If he went out and had a huge upcoming year for Leverkusen, Munich could have bought him back on the cheap.


    It's risk-reward, and in this case, if you minimize your risk, you're also going to heavily minimize your potential reward.

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  39. "Healthy profit" is probably a bit of a stretch. At this point, I think we'd be lucky to break even.


    And that's probably the main reason why he won't be sold this summer, in my opinion.

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  40. I would have kept both. It's not that I wasn't convinced by Sterling, but rather that I was excited by Suso. Seemed more mature for his age. Sterling's pace was always going to make his integration in the team easier. He offers you something with a clearer tactical advantage than Suso. More often you think "this teams needs pace" rather than "this team needs someone with generally good technique and game intelligence".

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  41. The fact is irrespective of him been Jamaican,he has still naturalised for England and he's getting the hype you want,praising these young English lads when rodgers said sterling is the best young player in Europe, whaaaat....Sterling and how many times has suso given a nod in da first team if some very few and what shows the lad is not fearless,the fact is rodgers do not rate him higher and he has not been given the chance sterling had period..

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  42. Did he not have some attitude related problems at Almeria as well?

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  43. But they've undoubted skill.

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  44. it isnt that easy-peasy dude. If he leaves on a loan, he needs to sign a contract with LFC with improved wages as he is last year of his LFC contract. Despite the uncertainty about his place in LFC we would have to pay big bucks just so he can go out on loan. But in any case i do believe that Suso even if he flops in loan would command a fee around 7-8 mil.

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  45. Is that you AllFactsNoFiction???

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  46. Things are starting to resemble last summer. Ivan Rakitic, my personal favorite is looking like he is heading to Barca and not here. On top of that, The Moreno deal sounds like it is stalled. The cherry on the turd is that Manc U is lined up to sign Alexis Sanchez, another strongly rumored Liverpool signee. God, I hope I am wrong but if we miss out on any of these guys that will really hurt, especially if we lose Rakitic and the admitted long shot chance at Sanchez. We all hope for good signings but we REALLY hate losing to Manc U. We should offer Suso, Agger and and a load of money for Sanchez / Rakitic or Moreno / Rakitic. Big teams need to sign big players for all the load of four tournaments. We need to move!!!!!

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  47. Absolutely right about IBE!!!!!!

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  48. Enlighten me please, I am sure BR doesn't want players with attitude problem around the squad as they always disrupt the team ethics and as such.

    By the look of him, I never thought Suso would even come into the category of attitude problem guys because he always seemed so calm and down to earth every time you look at him. Robinson however must've a lot of attitude problems.

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  49. Watched him a few times playing for Almeria, he lacks end product in the final third.. real shame

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  50. Too calm perhaps? Doesn't work hard enough? Just speculation like but there are different kinds of attitude that could be problematic.

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  51. The transfer window officially only opens on the 1st of July 2014 and we have already made two signings. We will without a doubt make more signings before the window has shut.


    The Moreno deal is simple. They do not want Suso. They want cash and if we pay Sevilla their asking price then Moreno is ours. Pretty sure a deal will eventually be be struck as we need a LB and by the looks of things, he is our main target for that position.

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  52. Rodgers is sh!t at transfers. If he was a football player in the past he would have known how difficult it is to carry a bad team by yourself. what Suso did at almeria was impressive.

    We should sell borini aspas allen lucas assaidi well before we sell suso

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  53. i hope if we miss on Moreno we go a head and put 20m cash on thetable for Coentrao.

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  54. That's a good way of thinking about it, thanks.

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  55. I don't think it needs to be a case of not rating Suso or him having some kind of attitude problem or general shortcoming. No question he's a decent player and he formed an important part of the attack for Almeria this past season, he has a reasonably bright future if he can continue to step up. But he's not the finished article yet and I think that combined with maybe some tactical choices is why Rodgers is willing to let him go. It takes a unique kind of player to play the 10 role in this Liverpool team. Maybe Suso isn't quick enough, maybe he needs too much time on the ball or maybe his decision making is just not quite there. None of us can say for sure. It doesn't need to be the case that Rodgers considers him an inferior player, simply that he's not the right player for us. That's not the same thing. If Rodgers thinks that Suso would need to change too much to fit our style of play then there is no point in squeezing a developing player into a role he's not built for. Managers frequently get a hazing on this web site for trying to do just that so to decide to not bother trying could be a smart move.

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  56. Please Don't Go feat KWS

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  57. I am sure he does backtrack might not be very much but enough in the BR's system that he asks other players too. I think its mainly media BS rather than the guy himself but again none of us know him personally so we don't anything about it.

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  58. Can't remember, I'm sure I heard some report somewhere that he'd missed training after being out on the lash or something like that. Might not be true just sure I remember reading it somewhere

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