Liverpool Watch: Mignolet’s coffee politics, Suarez’s baby and Reina’s long, long goodbye
LIVERPOOL Watch: a look at the Reds in the news.
Pepe Reina is back to tell us that his Liverpool career is over. Probably. Says the affable Spaniard now on loan at Napoli:
“At the moment it’s difficult to think about being a Liverpool player next year. They have a young goalkeeper in Simon Mignolet and the manager prefers him to me. That’s the reason why I’m here and he will be at the club next year as well. There’s no reason to think I’ll be a Liverpool player from now on but we’ll see where the future takes us.”
He then revisits the circumstances of his move to Italy:
“It did come as a surprise. It was the club who made the move. I was on my holidays and nobody told me anything. Suddenly Napoli called and said they were agreeing terms with Liverpool and Liverpool just rang me two days later and said the same. They probably had their own reasons. It’s been a good move so far and I don’t regret what happened. I would have preferred to say goodbye in a different way.”
You can read more of what Reina think of his transfer to Napoli here. And we recall what Brendan Rodgers said:
“He had been at the club a number of years and done well but I didn’t do anything underhand. I looked him (Pepe Reina) in the eye and told him I was thinking of bringing in another goalkeeper good enough to be No1. He accepted that at the time. When he decided he wanted to go on loan to Napoli I never got the two No1s I had wanted but I still ended up with a good goalkeeper”
What about Mignolet, the new Number 1? Well, he’s making plans:
”I finished the degree last season. It’s political science. I don’t really like to say it’s politics, everybody’s going to say ‘he’s going to be a politician’, which is not true.”
So plenty of theoretical discourses with Di Canio, then? ”No, no, no! I’m obviously interested in history, that kind of stuff, but I’m never going to be a politician after my football career. I started the course when I was in Belgium. My parents wanted me to have something behind me in case something went wrong, say an injury. When I arrived in England, I had to finish six more courses.”
He recalls his time under Di Canio at Sunderland:
“I drink quite a lot of coffee, but when I was there it wasn’t an issue. I got on with my job like I always do.”
It was an issue for others. As we learnt in August, Paolo Di Canio was a just a tad controlling. As he said:
“We need to have lectures about why we can’t have every day things like mayonnaise, ketchup and coke. They can cause chemical problems to the liver, to the stomach. If you have ice with coke you can have indigestion. I know players who’ve had ice with their coke the night before a game and then couldn’t play. Even coffee can be a problem. You can have one when you get up, but not an hour before you go out training or playing.
What about Luis Suarez? Tribal Football has news:
Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers says Luis Suarez “is on top of the world” after the birth of his second child. The Uruguay international made his comeback from suspension in the midweek Capital One Cup defeat at Manchester United and the next day his wife gave birth to his first son.
Is Luis Suarez staying, then?
According to the Swiss Portal Infoticker.ch Borussia Dortmund have set their sights on Liverpool’s Luis Suarez to replace the now certain runner Robert Lewandowski…
As Luis settles, what about another Liverpool striker? The Telegraph reports:
Brendan Rodgers has warned teenager Raheem Sterling to stabilise his life off the pitch and regain his focus on it.
Trouble?
Although there are question marks as to whether the most recent case should have reached court given the rapid manner in which it collapsed, it has not been an isolated brush with authority for the youngster… Earlier this week, another court case involving Sterling was adjourned. He is charged with failing to inform the Driver and Vehicle Licensing Agency that he had sold his Mercedes Benz. That case will be heard in October and although minor, carrying a possible £55 fine, it adds to a perception of Sterling being unable to stay out of trouble.
Time now for some transfer balls:
Caught Offisde reports:
Liverpool could attempt an ambitious double raid on Newcastle this January as they hope to sign both Hatem Ben Arfa and Yohan Cabaye from their Premier League rivals, CaughtOffside can reveal.
Can you reveal a hunch?
The Star adds:
Liverpool ‘to bid for Arsenal target Javier Pastore’
More Liverpool balls every day…
Posted: 28th, September 2013 | In: Liverpool, Sports Comment | TrackBack | Permalink
