18 Jan 2016

Transfer Shocker: Klopp to dump 'brilliant' Liverpool star after just 6 months. Harsh or fair?

Last month, Jurgen Klopp declared that he was 'absolutely satisfied' with Liverpool's 'goalkeeper situation', but several costly mistakes later, it appears that the satisfaction with Adam Bogdan has dissipated to the extent that the Hungarian's Anfield career is now hanging by a thread.

According to The Mirror:

* Klopp has lost faith in Bogdan (who he described as 'brilliant' in October) and is willing to let him leave.

* Liverpool's manager doesn't want to wait till the summer, and he'll let Bogdan leave during the January transfer window.

It's over for Bogdan at Anfield, and the writing was on the wall five minutes after Liverpool brought Danny Ward back to Anfield.

Ward has replaced Bogdan on the bench for the last two games, and I doubt that's going to change any time soon.

Bogdan's struggles are hardly surprising, though; what did Liverpool expect when signing a goalkeeper who struggled to be first-choice at Bolton?

On the day Liverpool signed Bogdan, I posted the following:

"Bogdan doesn't have the stature, experience, or ability to permanently relegate Mignolet to the bench, which (arguably) makes his signing a retrograde step for Liverpool".

I also posted an article detailing nine reasons why signing Bogdan was a mistake.

Now, I feel compelled to clarify a tedious misconception: I (and others) regularly called for Bogdan to be given a chance ahead of Mignolet, and I stand by that, for the following reasons:

* Once he signed, Bogdan become Liverpool's back-up goalkeeper, and there's obviously nothing I could do about that (!) I may have been against the signing, but there's always a possibility that an unfancied player may step-up and do the business.

* Mignolet is error-prone, and needed to be replaced. Like every player, Bogdan deserves a chance to stake his claim. I (and many others) called for him to be given that chance (just as I called for Teixiera to be given a chance).

* Bogdan had the opportunity to put some serious pressure on Mignolet, but he failed miserably. That's life. Some players triumph under the pressure, and some fold. The key point here is that you'll never know unless the player is given a chance.

* As such, calling for Bogdan to be given a chance is not retrospectively wrong just because he failed. The same principle applies with Ward: I'll call for him to be given a chance, and if he gets the opportunity and fails (like Bogdan), then so be it.

In my view, the possibility of failure should never be a reason to keep a player on the bench. That applies to Bogdan, Teixeira, and a whole host of youngsters currently toiling away in the Academy.

Ultimately, Bogdan had his chance, and failed. Klopp learned something about the player, and now he can plan accordingly (as he appears to be doing).

Author: Jaimie K


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