Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel has been making noises all summer about a potential move away from the club, but going into a fresh campaign, with a tinkered style of play and a new manager at the helm, it’s of paramount importance that the club keep hold of one of their most prized assets.
Alongside Daniel Agger, the Slovakian centre-back formed one of the top flight’s best centre-back partnerships last season. I’ve long since championed Skrtel’s cause as the best natural defender within the Liverpool squad while many have been seduced by the more eye-catching ball-playing stylings of Agger. Skrtel is solid, reliable and first and foremost, he actually relishes defending, which is a hugely underrated quality.
Skrtel hardly sounds as if he’s wholly committed to the club’s cause at the moment, and is staying put more out of contractual obligation than any real desire to: “There exists a number of offers but without the permission of Liverpool nothing can move forward. We have been in talks about a new contract but it has not moved forward. At the moment I am a Liverpool player and what happens in future in football you can never foresee.”
The defender remains a transfer target for Manchester City as they seek to add more depth their title-winning side. It’s somewhat understandable considering that the club recently missed out on Thiago Silva who has just moved to moneybags PSG. While Joleon Lescott has come on in leaps and bounds and his partnership alongside Vincent Kompany was at the heart of their triumph last term, Roberto Mancini is thought to be keen to add a proven Premier League centre-back to their squad, with doubts remaining over Stefan Savic and Kolo Toure having been sold to Bursaspor.
It is worth noting, though, that despite the conjecture, Liverpool have yet to receive any concrete offer for the player and he still has two years left to run on his contract. While it may be spun that he is ‘seeking reassurances about the club’s ambitions’, he is undoubtedly one of the most key and senior players at the club now and he may just want to find out what Brendan Rodgers plans are for the him and the side before they set about discussing a new deal.
He was voted the Player of the Season by the fans last term in a standout campaign. Skrtel has always been a natural defender, but the suspicion remained that he was too keen to dive in early in the tackle, which left him susceptible to getting turned and leaving a big gap behind him. He’s an attacking centre-half that always seemed to play better whenever he had Jamie Carragher alongside him constantly talking in his ear, telling him when to push on and when to hold his position.
It appears to have worked as he’s now the main main marshaling the club’s excellent back four as the club kept 12 clean sheets last term despite enduring a terrible run of form in the aftermath of their Carling Cup triumph.
An often overlooked quality of Skrtel’s, though, is his recovery pace. Under Rodgers he will be asked to perform a tactically aware role, be comfortable in possession and press the opposition high up the pitch, and if this leaves gaps behind the back four, even if they have Pepe Reina returning to a sweeper-like position in goal, Skrtel’s pace at centre-back will be crucial and it’s something that none of Agger, Carragher of Sebastian Coates have in abundance.You really can’t underestimate the importance of balance in a central defensive partnership, with the left-footed Agger complimenting Skrtel excellently. In the nine games that Skrtel played without Agger last season, the side kept just two clean sheets.
Rodgers is eager to keep the defender at Anfield this summer stating after his side’s 1-1 friendly draw against Toronto FC: ” I’ve heard nothing from any other club. Martin has been fantastic and seems happy and contented. He fits into my plans and ideas. I will fight as hard as I can to keep the players that I want here and he is one of them.”
He is unquestionably one of the best centre-halves in the Premier League at present and has helped form one of the most feared and consistent partnerships, to lose him now would prove a hammer blow. His no-nonsense style will obviously draw admiring glances from Europe’s top bosses and he’s one of the most underrated defenders on the continent and the club must keep hold of him at all costs if Liverpool are to make good on their ambitions.
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