In a world where Liverpool play in a Champions League final against Real Madrid at the weekend, it baffles me that the manager is still being asked about the future of a player who quite simply doesn’t have a future at Liverpool.
Reports today have suggested that Juventus have an agreement in place with Emre Can, which will be announced after the Saturday’s events in Kiev. These very reports came to light at the time of the squad’s open training session at Anfield this morning.
Jürgen quite rightly batted away the question regarding whether or not the midfielder would be moving to the Turin club in his press conference at Anfield this afternoon.
When asked about his future, Klopp said:
“It’s not important at the moment. What’s important at the moment is that he is here right now and that’s all I’m thinking about.”
Preach it, Jürgen. What happens beyond Saturday is a different matter, but right now, everyone at the club and surrounding the club should care about one thing and one thing only, which is winning the fucking trophy in Kiev. The conclusion of a tedious on-going transfer saga, of which the ending is abundantly clear, can wait another week. For now, I simply couldn’t care less.
What’s important is that he’s looking like he’s going to be available for selection on Saturday. I don’t think he starts, I think we all know that the team essentially picks itself (including Real Madrid, unfortunately), but it’s a real boost to have him as an option. It goes without saying that we do face the prospect of extra-time, and when we get that extra sub it would be nice to not have just Ben Woodburn to turn to (sorry Ben).
For what it’s worth, I disagree with the intense amount of hate Emre has received over the last couple of months. It is never easy to see a player turn down the opportunity to play for our football club. You’d think that over the years we’d have gotten used to it, but it still hurts. Especially this current side and the way they’re playing. And it appears his injury problems have been legitimate as I’m sure he’d have been included in Germany’s World Cup squad if they weren’t. We’re all biased as fans but at the moment as someone who talks about and studies football for a job, I don’t understand why any player would want to walk away from this Liverpool team, especially for a league like Serie A.
The country and it’s level of football is for sure on the way up, but is it really a step in a forward direction? The man might win a few league titles there and to be fair there are no guarantees he’ll be able to do that in England (although I’d like to think that he would), but as far as matching a player’s ambition goes, you can’t go far wrong with making a Champions League final and having the best forward line in world football playing in front of you.
But I think fans are quick to forget that this player has scored some important goals for us during his time at the club. I distinctly remember his winners vs Burnley and Watford helping us to achieve a top 4 finish last season. He’s also a had a hand this season in some of the Champions League wins in the group stages, scoring against Maribor and twice vs Hoffenheim in the playoffs.
At the end of the day, he’s been here 4 years, overall he’s done alright, but he’s been nothing special and he won’t go down as a legend in the club. He’s seen out his contract where he probably could’ve tried to force a move last summer if he wanted to. A combination of all this means the secondary headline of this article entirely sums up my thoughts, I’m bored of the situation. I care about it just being resolved that what the actual fate of the player is, and I think it’s gotten to that stage with a lot of people in the fanbase. And to those getting frustrated by it, check out the finer things you could possibly be thinking about. Think about the possibility that by Sunday morning, Dejan Lovren may have won more Champions League medals than Kevin De Bruyne, Paul Pogba and Arsene Wenger (combined). Think about the fact we have another world-class centre-midfielder in Naby Keita coming in to pretty much take his place.
Him leaving represents a bigger victory for the club. It demonstrates that we won’t be held to ransom over contracts, and players need us more than we need them. If the key men behind the scenes are confident that we can afford to lose Emre Can for free (in both an on-pitch and off-pitch sense), then I have faith that will be the case. We’re one of the biggest clubs in the world and we should never find ourselves in a situation where we’re bowing to player’s demands, especially when it comes to contract release clause.
Ah, look at that, in an article that began by me claiming not to care about Emre Can, I’ve managed to write nigh-1000 words about the fella. The irony. Up the Reds for Saturday.
By Ben Kelly – @bkelly776
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