Club of the Serbian 'Harry Potter' is open to offers

Adem Ljajic is talented, no doubt, but is he worth the £10m price tag?  Kind of yes, but ultimately no, let me explain.  Here are his stats from last season:

npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv
0.28	0.61	1.83	0.28	15.2
pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
90.9	55.8	52.8	11.3	9.8
gsp90	gap90	gop90	tgop	gopd
1.83	0.83	1	1.24	-0.24

Not bad, but not mind-blowing.  What about the season before, his last with Fiorentina:

npgp90	gcp90	ccp90	ap90	ccv
0.56	1.06	2.44	0.44	18.2
pass%	bp%	sacc%	shot%	TTI90
88.1	59.6	41	13.3	9.5
gsp90	gap90	gop90	tgop	gopd
1.94	1.33	0.61	0.74	-0.13

Overall better, he impressed with his chance created per 90 minutes as well as his chance created value.  His passing slipped in both directions though, having a lower success percentage and a higher back pass rate. In the end, he failed to leave a positive mark upon either season, having negative goals on pitch differences for both campaigns.  He improved in the areas that he can control. but it failed to translate in the areas he could not.

Roma have Miralem Pjanic and recently added Juan Iturbe, so the 22-year-old Serbian has become expendable.  Unfortunately, there is no real reason sign to him.  Yes, the pattern of his career shows that next year will be a bumper crop, but who knows how bad he'll crash the following campaign.  His inconsistency is his biggest fault.

I think it's nice that we are linked to such a talented, young player, but he's just too big of a risk.  Rodgers should only sign players who have proven themselves over a number of years, no matter the age or the league.  If Ljajic is as talented as advertised, he's still at least two years from being a Premier League star.

Shaqiri, Rojo, Sanchez, & Origi: The transfer vultures are circling

Though it appears Lazar Markovic is a likely signing, others who were once possibly on our radar are gone or slowly disappearing.  Of the four I listed in this post's title, the only one whom I'm disappointed about is Shaqiri. Apparently Bayern Munich offered him more money, but will that translate into more playing time for the loaded German side? Not that he'll be handed a spot at Liverpool, but Der FCB isn't called 'FC Hollywood' for nothing.

Apparently Roma are now in talks to sign the Swiss International.  If I were Shaqiri and an Serie A club came for me with an offer equivalent or greater than what I could make anywhere else, I'd sign faster than an imploding Brazilian defense.  Shaqiri will run rampant in Italy and his has the technical prowess to persevere as well.

Personally I have not been all the impressed with Marcos Rojo at the World Cup.  He's got that WC hype feeling.  He has received praises for his play in Portugal, but his stats do not overwhelm other than his card collection of 14 yellows and 3 reds in 33 matches.  If that's not a red flag, I don't know what is.

I don't care about Sanchez.  He prefers Arsenal and that tells me he's absolutely clueless.  The reason being his family wants to 'live in London' is just lame.  Oh well, have fun getting rotated to death and make sure not to make Arsene angry, you wouldn't like him when he's angry.

Finally we get to Origi, who I have already written about. Now there are reports that Spurs are interested in him.  I couldn't care less either way considering we would probably loan him back to Lille anyhow.  Seems ridiculous to me to spend £10m for a player just to loan him back to the club we bought him from.  What are we, Chelsea now? And if Origi wants to know how things will probably work out for him at Tottenham, I suggest he give Erik Lamela a call.

Oh and we missed out on Ashley Cole.  You can only imagine the tears.  Let's just hope we 'miss out' on Bertrand as well.  I will really be crying then.