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.
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:
Comments (Atom)
Popular Posts
-
1. Lallana has apparently put a spell on most LFC fans. I have never been more shocked and ashamed by my fellow Reds supporters than today....
-
Brendan Rodgers is not a bad manager, but he's young and still has to learn from his mistakes. Unfortunately, Liverpool may not be the ...
-
Here it be: Reina Riise Carra Hyypia Arbeloa Babel Mascherano Gerrard Pennant Voronin Kuyt Subs: Itandje Finnan Crouch Torres Sissoko Intere...
-
Before I get to my ratings for Saturday's match, I'd just like to say that there's absolutely nothing going on with our beloved ...
-
Club Chief Executive Rick Parry has stated that the rift between Tom Hicks and George Gillett is totally fabricated. The 52-year-old reveal...
-
You know, I understand the home side getting some calls, but this is simply shocking. First off, how Duberry and Bikey don't have cards...
-
Well, it looks like our old haunt of not being able to finish has returned. Kuyt couldn't kick the ball into the stands if he wanted to...
-
I wonder if we'll hear any nonsense about Yossi not starting today as to why we barely pulled this one off. Probably not, I figure the ...
-
vs It appears that following our 8-0 drubbing of Beşiktaş, the player that has gained the most points in the fans' approval ratings po...
-
Liverpool took a step in the right direction today, whether it was baby steps or a Neil Armstrong leap, we'll have to wait and see, but ...