A Progress Report on Liverpool's Summer Signing Emre Can
A £10 million signing from Bayer Leverkusen last summer, Emre Can was one of the more under-the-radar purchases in a busy window for Liverpool, but how has the midfielder progressed at Anfield?
On joining the Reds in July 2014—almost a month after initially agreeing the deal with Leverkusen—Can spoke of his joy at the move, as reported by the Reds' official website.
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"I am proud to be a part of the family and I am looking forward to playing here," Can said. "I will give it my best."
Rodgers also told the club website that: "Emre is an exciting young talent and I'm delighted he's chosen Liverpool for the next phase of his development and growth as a player.
"He has recognised that we are a club that improves and nurtures exciting, ambitious players and I'm looking forward to seeing him take those next steps forward for us."
Can has so far made 21 Premier League appearances for the Reds, but how is he developing?
Here is our progress report on Can at Liverpool.
Slow Beginnings
During the early stages of his Liverpool career—largely throughout 2014 following his signing—Can struggled to make his mark on Rodgers' first team.
Before the turn of the year, Can had made just 11 appearances for the club across the league, the FA Cup and the Champions League, amounting to just 520 minutes.
This was attributed to the midfielder's battles with fitness on moving to England.
In November, Can addressed this situation, as relayed by Nick Smith of the Liverpool Echo:
"I never thought being a Liverpool player would be easy. This club has a worldwide reputation and is expected to achieve positive results. You know about the pressure.
[...]
Liverpool is a new city and there is a new language, new team-mates, a new way of playing, a new manager. When you are injured you are not always with the team as the recovery process means training patterns are different. Playing well helps a player settle most. Instead when you are injured, you can only play catch-up. But in terms of fitness, I feel close to where I want to be now. I want to help the team improve its results.
"
Catching up for much of the first half of the season, Can struggled to truly impose himself on Rodgers' first-team thoughts.
The midfielder looked a less-than-bullish prospect in Liverpool's 3-2 away win over Queens Park Rangers in October, for example, making no tackles and conceding two fouls as the Reds toiled for a foothold in a fraught Loftus Road encounter.
When deployed on the left side of a midfield three in the 0-0 draw at home to Hull City in the same month, Can contributed a similar performance, again making no tackles and conceding one foul.
Can detailed his battle to function within a new style of play on moving from Germany to England, declaring that: "In Germany, it is pass, pass, pass...In England the test is different every week.
"I have realised you need to win the physical challenges before you win the technical challenges," he continued, seemingly nodding towards performances such as those against QPR and Hull.
There were spells of class in this run, of course, as evidenced with his deft touches, persistent runs and a first Liverpool goal in November's 2-1 loss at home to Chelsea, and two cameo performances in Champions League losses to Real Madrid, but Can looked short of consistency.
This arguably all changed with a half-time introduction in the 1-0 away win over Burnley on Boxing Day.
Centre Stage
After having made the switch to a 3-4-2-1 system in December's 3-0 loss away to Manchester United, Rodgers saw his side's form blossom, with a back-three defensive system becoming the base on which several clean-sheet performances were built.
Replacing Kolo Toure at half-time at Turf Moor, Can took up a role on the right side of the back three.
Alongside Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho, Can excelled, making three tackles, one interception and six clearances in a solid defensive showing—Can had made as many tackles as Sakho, and more than Skrtel, in 45 minutes less than the pair.
After the game, Rodgers addressed Can's previous struggles, his performance at Burnley and his Liverpool future, as reported by Liverpool's official website:
"He's got a big future here, Emre. It's just been curtailed a little bit from the summer when he was trying to gain his fitness and he was injured—he had an ankle issue that made him miss training and he was in and out.
[...]
I thought he came on and was outstanding [at Burnley]. We needed to build the ball better, our possession wasn't so good and we lost the ball too quickly, which didn't give us a chance to get into good positions on the field in order to keep the ball. Him coming on gave us that assurance in possession and also physicality when we didn't have the ball.
"
Finally, Rodgers was seeing what Can could accomplish, and the German has largely continued in this right-sided centre-back role ever since.
From that Burnley victory, Can has made 15 appearances in the league for Liverpool, as a starter and all at centre-back, with the Reds only losing two of those games, conceding just 12 goals and keeping a remarkable nine clean sheets in the process.
His defensive contribution has improved significantly, winning 58 percent of his tackles at centre-back, as opposed to 27 percent before the switch.
However, there remains a sense of impermanence in terms of Can and this defensive role, so what comes next for the 21-year-old?
What Next?
Continuing his post-Burnley praise of the midfielder, Rodgers outlined the challenge ahead for Can.
"He's got a big future here, Emre," Rodgers said. "He is an outstanding footballer and is a very, very young player who is just acclimatising to the game here.
"But if you asked him his profile, he likes to be in that sitting [midfield] role where he can play and dictate the game as well as be physical in the challenge and duels."
Having been used in a midfield role sparingly since his Boxing Day switch, Can has performed variably, such as being overrun in the initial FA Cup quarter-final with Blackburn Rovers but previously, and conversely, taking the reigns with a powerhouse performance against Bolton Wanderers in the fourth round.
It may well be that this centre-back role is a stop-gap for Liverpool, as well as a useful character-building process for Can, with a central midfield role earmarked for the 21-year-old for the long-term which Rodgers, as relayed by Kristian Walsh of the Liverpool Echo, hopes will be on Merseyside.
"If you give Emre another couple of years, he could play in any team in world football,” he said. “That's how highly I rate him."
Can has also been referred to positively as "a Rolls Royce" by Steven Gerrard, as reported by Sam Jordan of Squawka.
The midfielder has even been tenuously suggested as a successor to Gerrard as Liverpool captain, by The Telegraph's Chris Bascombe, who wrote: "Whether it is a feasible for him to become one of Liverpool’s youngest captains or not, the prophecy within Anfield that Can will eventually fill the Gerrard void no longer sounds as whimsical as it did last summer."
Can is clearly thought of very highly by all involved with Liverpool, and even to those looking on from other plateaus, the German must be an enviable prospect.
The midfielder's progress at Liverpool this season, particularly in 2015, has been hugely encouraging.
It seems that, given Rodgers' view of his potential, whether Can will rise to take a focal midfield role, and a potential position of leadership on Merseyside, is a matter in the 21-year-old's hands.
Statistics via WhoScored.com and Squawka.com.
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