Fascinating comments by former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers over the weekend on the Reds failed transfer policy, admitting for the first time that he never had the last word on transfers.
Liverpool have wasted over £100m over the last two summer on bad buys, and Rodgers firmly laid the blame for that at the foot of Liverpool’s now infamous transfer committee. The committee is icompromised of head of recruitment Dave Fallows, head of technical performance Michael Edwards, chief scout Barry Hunter, chief executive Ian Ayre and FSG president Mike Gordon.
Rodgers was a guest on Sky’s Goals On Sunday show and he added that the transfer policy at Liverpool is slightly different than at other clubs. While Liverpool manager Rodgers had always claimed that he has the final say’ on transfers, but when asked by presenter Ben Shepherd if he had the final say, Rodgers said:
‘Well…. It was a group decision, really. It was certainly not something I would have the sole or final say on. It’s difficult really.
‘When there is a list of players and the player that you want isn’t on that list, you have to take someone. You can’t have no players. If you haven’t got a left back, if the left back that you want, for whatever reason, you can’t bring in, if there is a list of three or four, you are having to take the best on that group. It’s the model. It’s about the young player.’
‘The ownership group, as I say they are a wonderful group of people, but they have a way of working and they want to bring in young players and look to see them develop and move on. So if you look at some of those players, a lot of them were 24 and below.
‘The ones who were above that were free transfers. As a manager, you”re always the figurehead of the club. But there is a recruitment team in place… Guys that work very, very hard at the club.’
What do you think of Rodgers comments?
Wow. Where to begin with Rodger’s comments? How about the committee puts together a list of players per position and the manager has to pick from that list? If the player the manager wants is not on the list, then he has to pick someone else! That misguided approach to transfers is how Liverpool ended up with the likes of Mario Balotelli instead of Alexis Sánchez.
Or how about Rodgers admission that the five-time European champions are a selling club? There is no other way to parse his comment: “but they have a way of working and they want to bring in young players and look to see them develop and move on”. The huge profits that Fenway Sports Group made on the sales of Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling as testament to this approach.
What do you think Liverpool fans of Rodgers comments about the transfer process?
