Liverpool Transfer News: Moussa Sow Is Wrong for the Brendan Rodgers Regime

Moussa Sow would set the Liverpool regime under Brandan Rodgers back, not contribute to its future.

Despite signing Daniel Sturridge for £12 million, Liverpool are apparently not done. Blackpool forward Thomas Ince is possibly on his way back to Anfield, although Swansea are now said to be interested—via The Daily Mail—and The Daily Telegraph reported that negotiations have stalled over a fee.

At the moment, the news from Metro is that Fenerbahce striker Sow is ready to join the club in a deal worth around £10 million. The same article states that Sow previously refused a move to Arsenal and still has three-and-a-half years left on his current contract.

Although Sow is just 26, he has already played for seven different clubs in his youth and senior careers. This immediately sparks panic in the mind. When a player moves around that much, it’s usually a sign of inconsistency and an inability to cement a place in the first team.

Sow’s goalscoring record is actually quite impressive, however, so the striker’s restlessness could be attributed to a lack of commitment to whichever club he happens to be at. Having a striker who is a constant flight risk is never going to be a comforting option for a manager.

Having already signed a striker—with another forward potentially on the way—Rodgers is understandably keen to establish quality depth behind Suarez. This makes perfect sense, but the buying of players purely to spend money isn’t Rodgers’ way—or Fenway Sports Group’s, for that matter.

On paper, Sow seems like a good fit for the Reds. He has strength and pace, and could be a decent foil for Suarez.

However, so could Sturridge, or Ince for that matter. Signing three strikers is a panic grab rather than a viable solution, and the feeling persists that Sow would be the first to move on.

In addition to this, the development of Raheem Sterling and Suso would likely be compromised as they are reduced to appearances in domestic cup games, or as substitutes in fixtures long put to rest.

Sturridge was an understandable signing, as is Ince. Both of those players can be slotted into the side with little or no adjustment, but throwing Sow into the mix changes matters.

Sturridge would be the obvious candidate to rotate with Sow, but that’s the reason he ended up moving on from Chelsea, so unseating him from his starting role so soon into his Liverpool career would not be a wise move.

He needs an extended run in the team to regain both fitness and confidence in front of goal, while Suarez just needs someone to help him carry the offensive attack.

Rodgers has also said that he is more interested in finding players from the local area—via The Daily Mirror— instead of bringing in young players from overseas, so the signing of Sow would be counter-intuitive to that statement.

An offer of £10 million for Sow is almost as bad as Kenny Dalglish spending £20 million on Stewart Downing, something that FSG will be keen to avoid. The money available to Rodgers has been markedly less than was given to Dalglish, and his costly failures still hurt Liverpool.

Signing Sow would only bring back memories of these gambles, and throwing all the money at the wall just to see what sticks is not the gospel that Rodgers has been preaching since his arrival.

His mantra has been that of patience. He would do well to heed it in this case