Fabio Borini: How Brendan Rodgers Can Get the Best Out of Him Next Season

For once this summer, a Liverpool forward was in the headlines and Reds fans didn’t have to wince when they picked up a newspaper or clicked on a website.

While Luis Suarez’s desire for a move away from Anfield continues to dominate column inches and web pages, Fabio Borini was able to provide a welcome distraction on Saturday evening.

Borini’s goal 11 minutes from the end of his Italy side’s European Under-21 Championships semi-final against the Netherlands was a timely reminder that, whilst Suarez stories may sell, there are still other characters worth mentioning at Liverpool.

The goal itself was a fine example of a striker’s art.

Taking a pass from Lorenzo Insigne, Borini’s excellent first touch took the ball away from defender Mike van der Hoorn yet still kept it expertly under control. He then produced the finish that the touch demanded. Four days later, he struck again in Italy's 4-2 defeat to a rampant Spain in the final.

Whilst delighted for their young forward, Reds fans also viewed the goals with an element of frustration, as it underlined just what they had been missing for the vast majority of their season.

Borini’s first campaign at Anfield may have started with a goal against FC Gomel in the Europa League and ended with a strike in the 6-0 win at Newcastle, but what went on in between those two strikes was the stuff of nightmares.

Three injuries decimated a season in which the likeable Italian was desperate to make an impact.

First came an ankle problem picked up against Manchester United last September, then, with that not fully healed, he broke a bone in his foot on Italian under-21 duty a month later, before returning only to dislocate his shoulder in a 5-0 win over his former club, Swansea City, in February.

His reaction to that most recent blow was to enjoy the comfort of some fast food on teammate Lucas Leiva’s advice, but he made a fast re-entry into the team in late April, when he climbed off the bench to score―and no doubt let out a few personal demons―in the hammering of Newcastle at St James’s Park.

That was the first match that the Reds played without Suarez following his ban for the Branislav Ivanovic biting incident, and with the club facing the prospect of playing all of their matches without the Uruguayan from now on should he leave, Borini will be eyeing a chance to stake his claim for a first-team berth.

He needs to stay fit for that to happen, of course, but when he is fit where does Brendan Rodgers play him?

The potential arrivals of the likes of Iago Aspas and Henrikh Mkhitaryan―not to mention the additions of Daniel Sturridge and Philippe Coutinho in January―are sure to alter the way Liverpool attack next season, but it will also mean that there will be plenty of players who need covering.

At this stage of his Liverpool career, that is really all that the 22-year-old Borini can hope to be. Cover.

Capable of playing all across the front three positions, Borini can provide valuable cover in those areas whilst also offering more of a goal threat than the players seen in those positions in the season just gone―namely the likes of Stewart Downing, Raheem Sterling and Suso.

A season staying away from the treatment table and acting as a valuable squad member for the Reds should surely be welcomed by the Italian, who still feels like something of a new signing given his lack of playing time at the club so far.

He can change all that next season, though, and become a player who Rodgers and the Reds can rely upon to step in for others when needed throughout the campaign.

That is what he can offer, and after the season he’s just had, that is what he’d surely welcome.