5 Liverpool Players Fans Want Sold

With the summer transfer market set to close in less than a month’s time, Liverpool still have the chance to offload any unwanted players, and from having listened to and read many Reds fans’ opinions on the matter, there are a number of current first-team squad members they want sold.

Head coach Brendan Rodgers inherited a group of multi-million-pound players from previous manager Kenny Dalglish when he replaced the legendary Scot last June; however, judging by certain team selections in his debut campaign in charge at Anfield, the new man at the helm clearly did not trust his predecessor’s abilities in the transfer market.

However, not all of the Merseysiders’ current flops are the result of bad buys by Dalglish, as this list of the five Liverpool players Reds fans most want to see sold demonstrates.

Sebastian Coates

Age: 22
Position: Centre-back
Bought from: Nacional (August 2011)
Cost: Undisclosed fee
Value now: £3.5 million
Contract expires: 2016
Will he still be at Liverpool next season?: No, he will likely leave for Fulham

Bought by Dalglish to replace towering Greek central defender Sotirios Kyrgiakos, the ball-playing Uruguay international has been just a bit-part player in his two years at Anfield so far, finding it near on impossible to win a regular starting berth at the heart of the Liverpool back four.

In fact, the most memorable moment to date for the Uruguayan came at Loftus Road in March 2012 when he scored one of the goals of the 2011/12 season with a stunning scissor-kick volley against Queens Park Rangers (see above).

However, as if to sum up Coates’ spell on Merseyside to date, despite his wonder strike giving the Reds a seemingly unassailable 2-0 lead late on in that match, he and his fellow defenders then somehow proceeded to let in three goals right at the death to lose the contest 3-2.

According to the Daily Mail's Simon Jones, Fulham have displayed a keen interest in the Uruguayan this summer, and it is safe to say that the club’s fans would not mourn the centre-half’s departure from Anfield this summer were a transfer to materialise.

Martin Skrtel

Age: 28
Position: Centre-back
Bought from: Zenit St Petersburg (January 2008)
Cost: £6.5 million
Value now: £11 million
Contract expires: 2016
Will he still be at Liverpool next season?: No, he will likely go out on loan to Napoli

A player who greatly divides opinion among Liverpool supporters, with some feeling he should be an automatic starter alongside Daniel Agger at the back for the Reds, while others see the rugged Slovak as being too much of a liability and too vulnerable when up against top-class strikers.

The truth, as always, lies somewhere in between the two schools of thought, although one thing that cannot be denied is that Skrtel’s future at the club is very much up in the air at present after the centre-back lost his first-team place in defence to the now-retired Jamie Carragher earlier this year.

Many assumed that the 28-year-old would simply walk straight back into the side next season; however, Rodgers has been using recent new signing Kolo Toure as Agger’s main partner during preseason, and so it looks like some fans’ wishes regarding Skrtel’s Anfield future may soon be realised as the defender nears a loan switch to Napoli this summer, according to Ed Malyon of the Daily Mirror.

Stewart Downing

Age: 29
Position: Left winger
Bought from: Aston Villa (July 2011)
Cost: £20 million
Value now: £7.5 million
Contract expires: 2015
Will he still be at Liverpool next season?: Yes

Another man brought to the club during that heady summer of 2011 when Dalglish was splashing the Fenway Sports Group’s cash like there was no tomorrow, and sadly for the iconic Scot, another to flop badly at Anfield in the intervening two-year period.

The England international’s debut season on Merseyside following his big-money move from Villa Park was an unmitigated disaster, with the wide man registering the unenviable achievement of recording not one single goal or assist in his 36 Premier League outings for Liverpool.

Now while improving slightly under Rodgers in the previous campaign, everything is relative, and when you fork out £20 million on a winger, the owners and the fans have every right to expect more of an international-class midfield player.

However, it looks like the Reds are stuck with Stewart Downing until his contract expires in two years’ time, as no club would be prepared to meet even the club’s now greatly reduced valuation of the Englishman, much to most fans’ huge disappointment, that is.

Jordan Henderson

Age: 23
Position: Midfield
Bought from: Sunderland (June 2011)
Cost: £20 million
Value now: £10 million
Contract expires: 2016
Will he still be at Liverpool next season?: Yes

Like his fellow England international Downing, Jordan Henderson arrived at Anfield on a wave of optimism just over two years ago with a glowing reputation as being one of the country’s most promising young midfield players.

Unfortunately, though, it just has not quite worked out for the 23-year-old, despite being given numerous chances to fully showcase his talents to the Reds faithful in a number of different roles.

And it is fair to say that after just eight goals in 92 appearances for Liverpool in all competitions since joining the club from Sunderland, the vast majority of the club’s supporters would like to see Henderson sold this summer, although just how much of their original mult-imillion-pound outlay on the player the Reds would get back is very much open to debate.

Fabio Borini

Age: 22
Position: Forward
Bought from: AS Roma (July2012)
Cost: £10.5 million
Value now: £7 million
Contract expires: 2017
Will he still be at Liverpool next season?: Yes

Rodgers’ first signing as Liverpool manager, and let’s just say it was an inauspicious first foray into the transfer market by the Northern Irishman. The Italy international went on to score just two goals in total in his entire debut season at Anfield, and only one in the Premier League (see above).

Yes, there were mitigating factors in the 22-year-old’s lean patch in front of goal, namely two untimely and serious injuries in both the first and second halves of the previous campaign.

However, there was also the universal feeling on Merseyside even before injury struck that Borini was simply just not good enough to be leading the line for the Reds, and nothing anyone has seen of striker since has done anything to alter that view.

And the recent acquisition of promising fellow front man Iago Aspas has only served to reinforce the opinion that the Italy international is now very much surplus to requirements going forward at Liverpool.

Follow @Richiereds1976