The next Liverpool 'superstar'?

Sheyi Ojo shows a lot of promise, but the 17-year-old English teen of Nigerian descent has yet to play a minute for the first team.  Among his peers though, he's quite impressive, more so than our own Welsh wizard, Harry Wilson.  He's got excellent pace, a keen eye for passing, and is a deadly finisher.  His demeanor is what impresses me the most, he seems so relaxed and natural on the pitch and sometimes it appears things just go his way.

He's been at Liverpool for three years since signing from MK Dons for around £2m.  He has also featured for the EnglandU17 squad.  Earlier today he scored a brace in a U20 friendly against Club Brugges in Holland. Here's an impressive video of him: 



Ojo is a man-beast who makes his opponents look like pub squaders.  His pace is ridiculous.  I would love to see him loaned out to a League One side, just to see what he can do.  Save injury, the future is bright.

Daley Blind is the epitome of World Cup sensationalism

There are reports that Daley Blind may be one of the left backs on Rodgers' transfer wish list, especially after his two solid World Cup performances for the Dutch, but is really that good?  Let's take a look at his output last season for Ajax and compare it to last season for Flanagan and the previous campaign of Jose Enrique.

	Blind	Flanagan	Enrique
age	24	21	28
app(subs)	29	23	25(4)
mins	2503	1890	2257
goals	1	1	2
assist	1	1	4
chances	37	13	26
gcp90	0.07	0.1	0.24
ccp90	1.33	0.62	1.04
pass%	88.1	83.7	80.4
bp%	38.7	42.6	37
sacc%	28.6	42.9	36.4
shot%	3.6	14.3	9.1
tack pm	2.7	3.4	2.5
tack %	50.4	45.7	75.3
int pm	2.6	1.7	1.2
clear pm	2	3.3	2.5
dribb past pm	1.3	1.7	0.3
bs pm	0.2	0.2	0.1
adwon pm	1.5	1.3	0.4
adwon%	65.7	46.8	38.2
own goals	0	0	0
TTI90	10.9	9.2	15.6

Overall, I would have to agree Blind is a slightly better player than Flanagan and Enrique.  He is clearly better at passing, chance creating, and aerial duels, but should work on his shot selection.  The problem I have with Blind is how much will he cost and is it worth bringing in a slightly better player, especially one who is currently riding the World Cup hype train though his club stats aren't anywhere near someone like Ricardo Rodriguez?

A couple of things that should be factored in is that he not only plays in the Eredivisie, but he plays for the best team in the league.  Ajax has won the league four straight years now, though only by an average of five points.  Ajax and PSV usually have the best talent in the league, so his stats, especially his passing are probably skewed by having the most talented teammates.

His age should be taken into account as well.  He is 24, three years Flanagan's senior.  Who is to say Flanagan won't be as good or better if he can get the playing time over the next few seasons?  Flanagan seems to improve slightly every match and his stats from the Prem last year are not too shabby considering his inexperience.

I'm not saying it would hurt to add another left back, we are gonna need at least three players at every position to get through next year's schedule congestiation if we want to be successful, but why bring in just another good player when there's a Rodriguez out there?  Blind is satisfactory, but Rodgers can't get caught up in all the World Cup ballyhoo.

Today's Banter: Rafa may sit Torres, Martin to Yeovil?, CNN needs a better fact checker, & more

- Rafa has made sure that everyone knows this is his club when he stated that Torres' performance last night doesn't guarantee him a place at Wigan on Saturday. It might be best to start him on the bench anyhow as we should have a fresh Kuyt and Voronin, both of whom should be looking to redeem themselves after Saturday's subpar performance versus Birmingham.

- It's looking less likely that a rumored loan move for keeper David Martin to Yeovil Town will come to fruition. With last night's shaky performance from Frenchman Charles Itandje, it's understandable that Rafa wants to keep the 21-year-old Reserves keeper around. If Itandje stumbles on his second outing, I fully expect Martin to get his shot. Both Martin and out-on-loan Nikolay Mihaylov gave solid performances in the preseason.

- CNN made a slight and understandable error in this report from yesterday's Sevilla-Espanyol match, unless Luis Garcia was recently loaned out from Atletico to Espanyol. I think I would have heard about it though.

- Coppell claims it's Torres' pace that sets him apart from other players. I would have to agree that El Nino has some speed and quickness, but he's also strong and how can you not deny his uncanny ability to score any which way by foot after the Chelsea goal and the phenomenal second strike yesterday? He's just so unpredictable on the ball.

- Finally, Ryan Babel and Dirk Kuyt have both been named to Marco Van Bastien's provisional Holland squad for their upcoming Euro qualifier matches in mid-October. The fixtures are just three weeks away. Cheers.