Maxi Rodriguez Set To Depart Liverpool To Join Boyhood Side Newell's Old Boys

Liverpool's Argentinian midfielder, Maxi Rodriguez, is almost sure to depart Anfield after spending 18 months at the club. His home-town club, Newell's Old Boys, is interested in bringing the 30-year-old wide player back to South America this summer.

Rodriguez, himself, has stated that the transfer is more than just a possibility. He told the Argentinian newspaper, La Capital:

"The president [of Newell's, William Lorenzo] called me and I said 'yes.' It depends on the contract I have in Liverpool. Maybe that can be loosened a little."

Maxi, born in Rosario, played for Newell's as a youngster before moving to Espanyol in his first permanent transfer to Europe. After spending a spell with Atletico Madrid, he joined Rafa Benitez's Liverpool outfit in January 2010. He has featured more or less regularly since then, claiming a total of 52 appearances for the Reds.

Though he was at Liverpool for less than two years, Maxi has played for three different managers, after first Roy Hodgson and more recently Kenny Dalglish took over the Anfield hot seat following the departure of Spaniard Benitez.

Something of an in-and-out-of-the game player at first, the Argentine wide-man found his best form in the last few months of the 2010-11 season under Dalglish—he netted seven goals in just three matches, including two hat-tricks against Birmingham City and Fulham.

This impressive run of form was as good as it got for Maxi in the goalscoring stakes—although those three games saw him net seven times, his overall total for the club is only 11; it now seems unlikely that he will be around next season to add to it.

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