There was rumours last month that Aurelio twisted his knee while playing football with his kids. Sadly those rumours now appear to be far more factual in nature and he looks like being out for several months. [Edit: LFC have since announced its for a max. of 2 months]
This should be a great opportunity for Insua to cement his place in the first team. But Rafa is unlikely to chance several months without sufficient cover at full back. So what does this mean for Dossena & Arbeloa ?
Arbeloa has only got one year left on his contract and is unlikely to want sign an extension. Dossena did improve (no really!) towards the end of the season, so it might be an idea to give him another chance. Both of them were supposedly leaving LFC this summer but Aurelio's injury complicates things. It will be interesting to see what Rafa decides to do.
12 comments:
Gutted for Aurelio he was awesome for us last season. He is also in the last year of his contract and I hope he stays with us. Lots of injuries but he would make a good backup for Insua.
I think selling Dossena now would be a smart move. Serie A teams will remember him well and be prepared to pay a decent fee for him. If we keep him too long then his fee will drop.
Even if it means Arbeloa leaves on a free next summer we should keep him. He can do a job at left + right back and will be eager to please so that he gets a good contract with another club next summer.
....and a place at the world cup Simon!
Agree with Simon.
Keep Arbeloa even if he doesn`t sign a contract extension. As you say he can play both right and left. And I honestly think his contribution this season will be worth more than the 4-5mill we could receive by offloading him now.
If possible, Dossena should be moved on sooner rather than later. Defensively he`s a mess, and offensively we have better men.
Rafa today commented that Aurelio will be out for between 1 and 2 months, so that`s a huge relief!
Keep Arbeloa and ship out Dossena
UPDATE
It was just announced on the official site that he will be out for a maximum of 2 months and Rafa hopes to have him back in about a month.
@Simon & @AJ41 - looks like they both might be going now, but I like the idea of keeping Arbeloa a little longer.
aurelio... a pretty good player when fit and firing... but sadly his kinda in the mould of a certain Mr Kewell... pretty much injured most of the season...
i think it would be ridiculous to let Arbeloa stay for another season and let him go for free next season... but yeh if we cant find a replacement for left back then i guess we got no other option...
mmmm speaking of transfers... its been pretty quiet on that front in regards to any big signings we might be making... no media speculaton at all... i wonder if thats because there is nothing or finally Rafa has learned to do business behind closed doors
@suley - crikey, that's some comparison there. Kewell had a series of phantom injuries, Aurelio has real ones....
@paul - haha yeh maybe it wasn't the best comparison... but either way aurelio is more a liability then an asset if you ask me... it feels as though theres more chance of him being off the field than on it... but yeh who knows... maybe its just bad luck on his part and his not actually injury prone... hope for liverpools sake after he recovers he has remains injury free for the rest of the campaign...
@suley - i like to think of Aurelio as an asset.
The reasons are as follows :-
1 - we got him on a free
2 - we don't pay him much
3 - he gets on with the other players
4 - he's a really good player when fit
5 - but best of all is that he knows he's injury prone and at 29 I think he's come to realise and accept that he's a squad player - not many other quality players are happy being squad players.
Insua is our future, and having someone of Aurelio's calibre as backup is I think a positive thing.
We don't need any more cover, if Insua gets injured just play:
Agger - Skrtle - Carra - Johnson
@Azza - looks good, but we'd be left a little light for cover in the centre of defense if one of them got injured ;-)
Ha true, by eliminating one problem you create another.
I'd like to say give one of the young reserve team players through, but Rafa seems disinclined to do that so far quite possibly with good reason.
I really hope we start trying to bring more players through particularilily in the Carling if nothing else.
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