Transfer Rumors: Changes in Liverpool’s Defense Look to be Coming
Liverpool’s defense could be set for a summer shake-up and not just in the way of a replacement for the retiring club legend Jamie Carragher.
With Carragher out, and Sebastian Coates and Martin Skrtel’s future both the subject of conjecture, Liverpool’s defense could be drastically different come August.
Skrtel saw a drastic change to his playing time as this season progressed. He played in the most games for Liverpool in all competitions last year in 45, but saw that number cut to 34 this season. That change in game time, especially toward the end of the season, has Skrtel admitting that if a good offer for his services came in, he would definitely consider it.
“I have not had any specific offers but, if some should come and they interest me, I would probably ponder it seriously,” Skrtel said to the Slovakian newspaper Dennik Sport.
“The club has the biggest say in this in any case, because they have the right for it with me being contracted,” he added. “Besides, I am not saying that I want to leave at any cost. I feel sorry for what happened in this season. But I have been here for five-and-a-half years and I have built a position here.”
“It was one of the worst seasons in my career and certainly the worst during my time at Liverpool. Ever since I came to England, I’ve always more or less regularly played,” he finished.
Liverpool have been linked with a number of defenders including Kolo Toure, who is out of contract at the end of this month, Schalke’s Kyriakos Papadopolous, and Swansea’s Ashley Williams.
The first of possibly many moves happened with defender Danny Wilson completing a move to Hearts, the club he’d been on loan with since January. Wilson had only started one game for Liverpool, and he’s glad to have things figured out.
“I am delighted to have my future sorted out,” Wilson said. “It didn’t take me long to decide about committing myself to Hearts once the club made it known they were keen to keep me. I just want to play football, and I firmly believe that staying at Tynecastle will benefit my career.”
“I really enjoyed my time on loan here, and am very pleased the move has been made permanent. This is a great club with great supporters, and I’m looking forward to helping bring more success to Hearts,” he said.
With Glen Johnson, Daniel Agger, and Jose Enrique all set to be back, Liverpool also hopes to have Martin Kelly back soon as the defender tore his ACL last September. Andre Wisdom started 20 games in all competitions as well. There is a mix of experience and youthful promise in Liverpool’s defense, but there is also a number of question marks around certain players’ futures. So how different Liverpool’s back four will look at the beginning of next season might not be known for certain any time before then.
