Why Andre Wisdom Is the Forgotten Liverpool Player Who Will Explode in 2015/16
With the squad overhauled every summer, signings in and out and loan players returning, there is always the possibility of a breakout star emerging under Brendan Rodgers at Liverpool. This season, that player could be 22-year-old defender Andre Wisdom.
The Yorkshireman returns to the Reds squad this summer, and having been included in Rodgers' 30-man squad for Liverpool's pre-season tour of the Far East and Australia, as reported by This is Anfield, he will be looking to impress this campaign.
So why is Wisdom the forgotten Liverpool player who will explode in 2015/16?
Unknown Quantity?
Like last season's emerging talent Jordon Ibe, who returned early from a spell with Derby County in January, Wisdom spent last term on loan with a lower-level club.
While Ibe was Championship-bound last summer, Wisdom's progress was deemed best served at Premier League mid-table outfit West Bromwich Albion.
"After today, Andre is going to go on loan to West Brom," Rodgers told the club's official website almost a year ago, as he formulated his 2014/15 plans.
"He had a very successful period at Derby last year, he did very well under Steve McClaren.
He now has the opportunity to go to another very good coach in Alan Irvine, who I know from my youth days. He is an excellent coach and West Brom are an excellent club.
West Brom have been a rising club for the last few years in the Premier League. He'll go there and it will be another chance for his education and development to continue.
He'll join up with them sooner rather than later and spend the season there on loan. That will be another step for him in his development, playing regularly in the Premier League.
"
Here, Rodgers outlined his hopes for the young defender, saying, "That will be another step for him in his development."
However, following a tumultuous on-off season at the Hawthorns, Wisdom remains something of an unknown quantity.
For example, his natural—or best—position is still a mystery. According to Rob Bleaney of the Guardian, then-Baggies manager Irvine said on signing Wisdom last summer, "He grew up as a centre-back and played on the left side of central defence for Liverpool against Preston on Saturday."
Yet he was clearly earmarked as a right-back at the Midlands club, making all 22 of his Premier League starts on the defensive flank.
Furthermore, Bleaney also reports Albion technical director Terry Burton as saying, "He’s a good defender and he looks to enjoy stopping the opposition from playing which is a quality we want our players to have."
Billed as a defensive-minded talent, Wisdom was then shunted into the periphery when the structurally astute, defence-favouring Tony Pulis took over in January. He made just six league appearances under the Welshman, totaling 351 minutes.
So Wisdom returns to Liverpool with question marks over where he's best utilised—but while this could be perceived as a negative, Rodgers' faith in the 22-year-old clearly shows he has a role in the offing at Anfield.
Rodgers' Belief
Liverpool's decision to cancel the two-year loan of right-back Javier Manquillo this summer, as reported by Sky Sports, was a move derided by many Reds supporters.
The 21-year-old had impressed with a series of solid defensive performances during the first half of 2014/15, and he was unfairly ostracised by Rodgers following the turn of the year.
However, despite this justified ire, there is sense in Liverpool making this move.
Manquillo was not guaranteed to remain a Liverpool player beyond the terms of his two-year loan, and therefore Rodgers may have been wasting resources tailoring the Spaniard's development—despite his enormous potential.
Instead, the decision to reintroduce Wisdom this season serves as a more rational solution.
This was compounded when the Englishman signed a new contract with the club, alongside Kolo Toure, in May.
"Committing my long-term future to Liverpool was an easy decision to make," Wisdom told the club's official website upon signing. "The club are in my heart and I can't wait to get going again here. I'm already looking forward to pre-season training and linking back up with all the lads."
"I definitely picked up some good experience at West Brom and I am grateful to them for the opportunity they gave me and the faith they showed in me.
But now I'm looking forward to challenging for a place back here at Liverpool.
This is one of the world's biggest football clubs and it's an honour to be a part of it.
"
As a Liverpool player of seven years, Wisdom has an affinity with supporters that Manquillo couldn't foster.
With that two-fold reasoning, the move to replace an on-loan Manquillo with a developing Wisdom shows both complete sense by a savvy club and strong belief from Rodgers in his homegrown talent.
Of course, as Wisdom explains, "I want to work hard and try to compete for places again." It's not just a simple return to the first team for the 22-year-old, however.
2015/16 Role
The £12.5 million signing of Nathaniel Clyne from Southampton will stand as one of the best pieces of business this summer, and it sees Liverpool box off their right-back position for the next five to 10 years.
At just 24 years old, Clyne is the complete package in terms of the demands the Premier League places on its full-backs.
He's strong, defensively resolute, quick, attack-happy and extremely fit. He can play both full-back and wing-back if Rodgers so wishes throughout the season.
For these reasons, and the clear first-choice status his price-tag indicates, Wisdom's role is not cut and dry in 2015/16—even at centre-back, Toure's renewal serves as a polite reminder of the pecking order.
However, with Liverpool competing on four fronts again this season, and with a potential to play upwards of 60 games, his abilities will be invaluable.
Rodgers can use him as a right-back or a centre-back on either the left or right side of the back two—he could partner either the right-sided Martin Skrtel or the left-sided Mamadou Sakho, for example—and he can expect the versatile youngster to perform capably.
He is experienced enough to step in and impress when required, while young enough to accept and develop within a bit-part role on Merseyside.
What he has shown on loan at both Derby and West Brom is the potential to become a comfortable Premier League defender.
Given the chance this season, the forgotten Liverpool man could be a sleeper hit.
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