The transfer rubbish bin: Vidal, Pogba, the Pope & Santa Claus

The latest slop to come from the transfer pig trough is Liverpool's interest in Juventus midfielders Arturo Vidal and Paul Pogba.  The chance of such rumours coming to fruition are like Kate Upton having my love child.

Arturo Vidal is a man-beast.  Unfortunately, Liverpool have no interest nor room for the 27-year-old Chilean International. With Can, Henderson, Gerrard, & Lucas, minutes would be sparse, and his lack of 'specialization' would only hurt his chances of pitch time.

Vidal is an all-round good midfielder, but does nothing great.  Here are his stats from last season:

npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv
0.33	0.59	1.73	0.18	10.6
pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
83.7	40.9	33.3	19.3	13.2
gsp90	gap90	gop90	tgop	gopd90
2.21	0.74	1.47	1.5	-0.03
intp90	drbp90	tp90	tack%	adw%
1.44	1.99	4.8	43.2	53.8

If he hadn't scored 11 goals and had 5 assists, he'd be a poor man's Lucas.  If he didn't post such defensive numbers, he'd be a slightly passing inferior Jordan Henderson.  Either way, he pales in comparison to a 33-year-old Gerrard.

Pogba falls under the same problem, he's also a box-to-box whom would probably be great at being either an attacking or defensive midfielder if he just concentrated his efforts towards being one or the other.  He does seem to be better on the ball than Vidal though.

npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv
0.21	0.41	1.41	0.21	14.6
pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
83.8	39.7	39.7	9.6	11.3
gsp90	gap90	gop90	tgop	gopd90
2.14	0.59	1.55	1.5	0.05
intp90	clrp90	tp90	tack%	adw%
1.06	1.14	2.46	40.6	58.4

They are very similar players which is probably why Juventus are shopping both, but will probably only sell one.  Unfortunately, there is no reason to buy either, Henderson is just as good, Gerrard is better, Lucas is a far superior holding midfielder, and Can has all the assets to compete for minutes.

The Pope is great at crosses and saves, but do we really need a winger/keeper?