Carra raves: 'Amazing' £10m powerhouse is last summer's 'best signing'. Agree...?

As I've argued many times in the past, Brendan Rodgers' performance in the transfer market leaves a lot to be desired, and it's fair to say that only 2 of the 24 players he's brought to the club - Sturridge and Coutinho - are unqualified successes. The negative trend continued last summer, with nine players brought in for a whopping £118m, and according to Reds legend Jamie Carragher, only one of the summer intake is worthy of being labelled a transfer success.

At an event on Saturday night for the 5Times Liverpool Former Players Association, Carra discussed Rodgers' transfers, and when asked about last summer's transfer business, he told London-based Liverpool fans:

'Emre Can is Rodgers best signing last year'

I'm not as enamoured by the (arguably) overhyped Can as other fans, but it's hard to dispute the contention that the German is last summer's best signing.

That's not saying much, though, especially with the (collective) underwhelming performance of the other eight signings (including Origi at Lille).

Can is basically the best of a bad bunch, and although he's played well in defence, the jury is still out on whether he can cut it in his favoured midfield role.

The idea of Can replacing Gerrard in midfield next season is, quite frankly, worrying. The German has looked distinctly average when played there this season, and in my view, Can/Henderson is not a viable midfield partnership:

* Having two box-to-box midfielders in the same team is a bad idea. Both have the same instincts (get forward, attack etc), and both will want to make similar runs.

* Tactical discipline will be an issue; for Henderson, this is already a minor problem, and Rodgers conceded this a few weeks ago.

* A dedicated defensive-midfielder is essential to the success of Liverpool's preferred style of play, and neither Can nor Henderson are specialist DMs.

* Imagine having two Gerrards in midfield. It's a nice idea, but it wouldn't work. Ditto Can and Henderson.

There's one other thing to consider: throughout his brief career, Can has been played in various different positions (including central defence and right back), and he's rarely played consistently as a central midfielder. The question is, why?

If Can - recently hailed by Kolo Toure as 'amazing' - is so fantastic in central midfield then why did Bayern and Leverkusen rarely trust him there? Could it be that he's just not that effective in the role?

Brendan Rodgers should just convert Can into a full-time central defender. With Toure sure to leave at some point in the next year, and Lovren failing to hold down a place, keeping Can in defence could save the Reds big money on signing a new centre-half.

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Author: Jaimie K