Stronger, Or Weaker? The Ins and Outs
Final Goodbyes: Daniel Agger captains Liverpool in their penultimate Premier League game of the 2014-15 season against Manchester United. 0-0, the final score.
The transfer window has been pretty bare so far this summer, and if anyone was going to light it up, it would be Liverpool. However, they've lightened it up in the way you wouldn't have expected. Signing five players, and only one of those showing first team quality (Verratti) it looks as though Gerrard is looking for youngsters who can brighten Liverpool's future that little bit extra.
There have been some out going deals to. And some big ones at that. Three of the four players to leave, were probably expected to leave the club but not in such fine fashion. The amount of money that Liverpool have brought in from these three out going players, ensures they will make a profit on the 39.54M they have spent so far.
Now, the first player to leave the club this week was Daniel Sturridge, and for the most money. Sturridge will be joining Ligue 1 side Monaco, where he should be plying his trade for the next five years.
Now, Sturridge hasn't had the greatest career at Liverpool. He started ever so well getting 10 goals in 14 appearances, then he started to slide with 11 goals in 26 appearances. Last season, he made just 4 appearances for Liverpool and scored 1 goal.
So, you really wouldn't expect Liverpool to be getting £26M out of Monaco, but it seems the French side are willing to splash the cash out on Sturridge, and hope for the best. An unbelievably huge amount of money for a player like Sturridge, but none of that will matter to Liverpool, they've just gained more than half the money back that they have spent on players.
The second player to depart Liverpool this summer is Jose Enrique who unlike Daniel Sturridge, has played in a lot of games for the Reds over the last few years, and he's really done well for himself too.
Enrique has been solid in defense for Liverpool in these past two years, he's been a key part to the Liverpool defense, and without him the club might not be able to say they've won as much as they have done under Rodgers and Gerrard.
Enrique leaves to Monaco with Daniel Sturridge, and for a fee of £15.5M...Not too shabby for a 29 year old. Enrique made 118 appearances for his former club and goes down in history as one of the great left backs to play for Liverpool.
Daniel Agger also departs his beloved Liverpool. Over the past ten years, Agger has become one of the most loved and lovable players to play for Liverpool in recent years. Agger signed for the Scousers the season after they had famously won the Champions League in Istanbul.
He went on to make a huge 193 appearances before he made his move to CSKA Moscow in Russia for a £10M fee.
Simon Mignolet hasn't played much at all for Liverpool, and as expected he has left Liverpool as well. Mignolet moves to Zenit after making a not so big
one appearance. £4M is the fee, pretty big for someone who's only played once in two years.
Toljan, has appeared 65 times for Hoffenheim. Showing no signs of true quality, he still gets his big money move to the Reds.
So, onto signings. Now, as we said there is only one player expected to play regularly for Liverpool out of the five new signings, and that is Marco Verratti. But, who have Liverpool signed, and how can they help the team become better?
Well, after the signing of Marco Verratti, Gerrard got straight to work on looking for more signings, most likely a left back. It didn't take him long to find one, and soon he found himself raiding Hoffenheim for their starting left back Jeremy Toljan.
Toljan who made 65 apps for the Dutch side in three years joins Liverpool for £7M. He's never really shown true signs of becoming as good as Liverpool fans might want him to be, but Gerrard has put a lot of faith in him and they'll be hoping the faith pays off.
He can be a good player, and he now has some World Class talent around him. He'll most likely be backup to Nicola Murru but with a bit of hard work he can definitely get his chances in the first team. And hopefully he takes them.
Now after the departure of Simon Mignolet, Liverpool would be looking for a new goalkeeper to test Reina week in, week out and haven't they just...They've spent a whopping £13M on Timo Horn who has made some outstanding performances for underachievers Koln in the last few years.
Timo doesn't look like he'll start straight away, Reina has been too good. But, like Toljan he will get his chances and when he does we're sure he'll take them. Horn is a fantastic signing and when/if he starts to play ahead of Reina he could be in the starting lineup for years to come.
With the last two signings, it looks as though Liverpool have decided to rummage through the bargain bins for young stars in the making. They've brought in a centre midfielder in Federico Russo, and a centre back in Keziah Veendorp.
Both of these players are 18 and look the real deal. With the right guidance, we can just about assure the World that they will both be the next big thing in the next year or so. They can both be Top class players. It doesn't always work out like that, but Gerrard seems to think they have all the makings of a Premier League star.
So, Liverpool have two 21 year old left backs, and have sold their backup keeper and brought in a younger unproven one. Unproven in the World's best league that is. Are they weaker or stronger than before? Well...Only time will tell.
Pre-season comes first, then it's off to United, West Ham, United (Again), Chelsea, Inter Milan, and Arsenal in their first seven games of the season. It's going to be a real test for them!