A successful (almost) finish to Liverpool’s Premier League season this year led many to predict imminent success for Brendan Rodgers’ team next season, many hoping for a Cup victory and a return to European football (preferably on a Tuesday or Wednesday evening).
There was no doubting that new recruits were needed for the colossal challenge of elbowing their way into the top five or six teams and competing financially with their competitors’ American, Arab and Russian money.
Celta Vigo’s striker Iago Aspas has moved to Anfield for £7.6 million and Rodgers will hope that Simon Mignolet, Tiago IIori, Luis Alberto and Henrikh Mkhitaryan will join him to bolster a team capable of sustaining a season long campaign to victory.
However, it is not only Aspas who has joined Liverpool’s squad this season. Manchester City’s Ivorian defender Kolo Toure agreed to join the club once his contract expires on July 1, having been highlighted as an obvious departure from Roberto Mancini and then Manuel Pellegrini’s team.
Since joining Manchester City in 2009 the defender has featured 102 times and was part of the squad which secured a Premier League title in 2011/2012, but in his last season at the club he only featured 13 times and was not deemed good enough to be included in their ill-fated and short Champions league campaign.
It has been suggested that Toure is an ideal ‘Moneyball’ transfer and will become the replacement for the retiring Jamie Carragher, perhaps even needing to step up if Daniel Agger or Martin Skrtel leave Liverpool this summer.
But surely, if Liverpool and Rodgers are serious about Champions League football in the near future, then this cannot be the case?
His brightest days were at Arsenal when he managed to attain a Premier League and two FA Cup winners’ medals while playing alongside Sol Campbell in defence to help the club go undefeated in the 2003/2004.
Toure did enjoy success at Manchester City and added to his own trophy cabinet but more recently the player has formed a close relationship with the bench and his own sofa, especially when he was banned for six months for failing a drug test in 2011.
Liverpool shouldn’t be looking to secure the signature of their rival’s castoffs and should be reserving their squad spots for players who are either coming through their successful youth academy or through a knowledgeable European scouting network.
When purchasing players in future, the Liverpool hierarchy should ask themselves “Would Manchester United, Manchester City, Chelsea, Arsenal or Tottenham buy this player?”
The answer is obvious when it comes to Kolo Toure.
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