27 Aug 2015

Hargreaves: 'Remarkable' £20m attacker would be a 'perfect' signing for 'Liverpool'. Agree?

In December 2013, German club Hamburg confirmed Liverpool's interest in exciting attacking midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, and according to ex-Manchester United midfielder Owen Hargreaves, the Reds should seriously think about signing the 21-year old attacker.

Discussing Bayer Leverkusen on BT Sport this week, Hargreaves enthused:

"Calhanoglu is a star. He is the feature of this team [and] if you think about Liverpool or Tottenham, he would be perfect in those teams."

Prior to Calhanoglu's move to Leverkusen, Hamburg sporting director Oliver Kreuzer told German newspaper Bild:

"Liverpool and Arsenal are interested. We do not want to sell him, but every player has a price. "

Liverpool were last linked with Calhanoglu in March, when Spanish newspaper Marca claimed that Liverpool were still tracking the midfielder. At the time, however, Calhanoglu's, Bektas Demirtas dismissed the possibility of a move:

"I don't want this to sound arrogant, but Hakan isn't bothered by the interest. He has everything he needs at Leverkusen, and things are going well in the Bundesliga"

Some info about £20m-rated Calhanoglu:

* 16 goals/11 assists in 52 appearances for Leverkusen (Goal/assist every 1.9 games)

* 3 goals in 9 games for the Turkey national team.

* Current contract expires in 2019.

* Apr 2014: Hamburg boss Mirko Slomka revealed that Calhanoglu was being treated by a 'specialist in neurology and psychology' for a depression-related affliction. When asked about the youngster's situation, he simply said: "We are going to give him whatever help he needs".

* Renowned for his dead-ball ability, Calhanoglu recently revealed that he sets aside time every week just to practice free kicks: "Three times a week I work on free-kicks; 20 with the left foot, and 20 with the right, then I watch myself [on video] to see what I can improve".. An example of the obvious benefits of that extra training:


Calhanoglu - hailed in February as a 'remarkable' player by Leverkusen boss Rodger Schmidt - is only one year into a 5-year deal at Leverkusen, so it seems unlikely that the club will let him leave so soon.

Plus, Calhanoglu doesn't appear to have any plans to jump ship to the Premier League, and his view seems to be that moving to English football is a mistake. Indeed, when asked this week about Heung Min Son's impending move to Spurs, Calhanoglu told ESPN:

"It's a bit disappointing. The whole team is disappointed, but it's not his fault -- he's a good lad. I believe that he [Son] has been badly advised."

On the subject of advice - I'd give Calhanoglu the following advice: steer clear of Liverpool unless you want to end up like Lazar Markovic. Brendan Rodgers will either play you out of position, or leave you rotting on the bench whilst inferior players (Lallana), or less experienced youngsters (Ibe) get all the chances.

Calhanoglu would be a great signing for Liverpool...under a different manager.

Author: Jaimie K


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