After dishing out ridiculous sums for turnover prone 25-year-old, Ander Herrera, and the nemesis of Victor Moses, Luke Shaw, they are now linked to splash the cash for soon-to-be 34-year-old former 'Liverpool Legend', Dirk Kuyt. I use 'legend' in the loosest sense there, but Kuyt is much more deserving than say, Roy Hodgson.
Dirk Kuyt's evolution as a footballer is interesting to say the least. At FC Utrecht and especially Feyenoord in the Eredivisie, he was a poacher, a goal-scoring machine. Unfortunately, he didn't have the pace to translate his finishing skills in the Prem and had to change his approach if he wanted to survive. So he became a more complete player, a blue collar one mind you, but good enough to earn a starting place as a supporting striker. His determination to stay and fight for a place at Liverpool after a disappointing first season instead of returning to the Eridivise where he could have easily reverted back to his prolific poaching ways was a testament to his character.
In his first season at Liverpool, he had one assist in 34 appearances, in his second he had 8 in 32. In his final three seasons he had a chance created per 90 of 1.79, but it was not just his ability to make important passes that improved, he became a defensive forward, if one ever existed. From 2009-2012, he averaged 1.91 tackles per 90 and 1.56 int per 90, for perspective, during that same period, Rooney contributed 0.63 tp90 and 0.42 intp90, a massive difference.
His latest rebirth as a left wing back for the Netherlands in the World Cup apparently has spurned Van Gaal into thinking about taking him to United when the Dutch coach starts his term there. If I can say so sans punishment, playing the heavy-footed Kuyt at that position actually is a genius move, it takes advantage of his strengths and less exposes his weaknesses. His contributions have been solid on both ends of the pitch and the coverage he provides for Daley Blind is pricelesss, but will it translate in the Prem?
The potential big winner here is Fenerbache. With United willing to pay double and triple a player's valuation, the Turkish club could possibly get £10m for a player they bought for £880,000.
Showing posts with label Fenerbache. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Fenerbache. Show all posts
Monday, June 30, 2014
How much will United pay for Dirk Kuyt?
Labels:
Daley Blind,
Eredivisie,
FC Utrecht,
Fenerbache,
Feyenoord,
Herrera,
Hodgson,
Kuyt,
LFC,
Liverpool,
Manchester,
Moses,
NEtherlands,
Rooney,
Shaw,
United,
Van Gaal,
World Cup
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
It has officially become a two horse race. Sure, Spurs, Chelsea, and even the Gunners could go on a run, but in the end, it will take a sig...
-
Here it be: Reina Riise Carra Hyypia Arbeloa Babel Mascherano Gerrard Pennant Voronin Kuyt Subs: Itandje Finnan Crouch Torres Sissoko Intere...
-
Here's the verdict: Reina Aurelio Carragher Hyypia Finnan Riise Gerrard Alonso Babel Voronin Torres Bench: Itandje Benayoun Lucas Kuyt M...
-
What a terrible bit of business. Buying Lallana for a reported £27m may end up being worse than United buying Herrera for £32m. He wasn...
-
Here it is: Reina Riise Carragher Hyypia Finnan Voronin Mascherano Alonso Gerrard Torres Kuyt Subs: Itandje Babel Benayoun Crouch Arbeloa Vo...
-
October was a month to forget record-wise. We played a half-dozen matches, winning a pair (@Everton, Cardiff City), drawing a pair (Tottenh...
-
Aaron Ramsey - 1 assist, 3 chances created, 60/68 passing (88.2%), 1 shot on-target, 4 tackles, 3 interceptions Jack Wilshere - 1 goal,...
-
Well, we went from arguably the easiest match to predict so far this season, to quite possibly the hardest league fixture so far. Wait until...
-
Apparently plan C to sign a left back is Ben Davies, 21-year-old Welsh International who plays for the Swans. His stats from last season ar...
-
Jay Rodriguez isn't worth £1.9m, yet alone 19! That is absurd. There just can't be any truth to Rodgers being interested in him. I...