Brendan Rodgers: The one that got away from Tottenham
Brendan Rodgers and Andre Villas Boas
There was one thing crystal clear after the Liverpool Konoplyanka deal debacle in the January transfer window: If Liverpool renewed their interest in the Dnipro star then they are definitely going to face stiff competition from Tottenham. The recent comments of the Dnipro president have done nothing but aggravate those fears.
There is a running joke on Twitter suggesting that Tottenham don’t have a scouting system of their own, LFC scouts do that for them.
The first part of the statement is pretty clear as they clearly didn’t know what to do with 100 million pounds and made three record signings in one summer and its not surprising that none of them have clicked. That money could have been better invested when the right player becomes available instead they acted like a child who has been given his first pocket allowance and decides to buy all the candies he can with whatever money he has.
The whole Tottenham-Liverpool animosity started when Tottenham hijacked Liverpool’s move for Icelandic midfielder Gylfi Sigurðsson who was Anfield-bound until Tottenham offered him a fat paycheck. Tottenham then got Vertonghen who was also strongly linked with Liverpool but wanted to go to a team where he would get regular first team football.
A season later, Tottenham went for Liverpool target Willian, who was finally captured by Chelsea after he reportedly had a medical with the north London club. The above three though have explained themselves regarding why they preferred Tottenham over Liverpool thus confirming the rumoured interest. Both Eriksen and Soldado were also linked with Liverpool but there was nothing concrete confirming Liverpool’s interest.
With Liverpool likely to seal the Champions League spot it is highly unlikely that the Ukrainian winger will seek a transfer to the London based club over their Merseyside rivals. Even in the worst case where Tottenham will manage to convince Konoplyanka to join Liverpool, there will always be the one that got away from them and sadly for Tottenham fans he was the most important of them all.
Before Liverpool decided to remove Kenny Dalglish from his second stint as the coach of Liverpool, there were strong rumours that Daniel Levy, the chairman of White Hart Lane club wanted to replace Harry Redknapp, who had failed to take Tottenham into the Champions League for the second successive season, with the then Swansea coach, Brendan Rodgers.
Liverpool were the early bird and were able to convince Brendan Rodgers to come to Anfield to restore the glory of old. And he has done a great job in two years at the helm. As Liverpool lie nine points clear of Tottenham with a game in hand with less than a quarter of the season left, the Spurs chairman must be kicking himself for not acting faster.
Brendan Rodgers may still have his flaws but he has managed to do a spectacular job for Liverpool while Tottenham may yet be looking to fire their second manager in as many seasons. He has unified the club in many respects and has rekindled the old pass-and-move philosophy in the first team as well as at all the youth levels.
Maybe it was the frustration of not getting their hands on Brendan Rodgers that forced Tottenham to start hijacking rumored Liverpool targets, maybe it was not. But one thing is certain, Brendan Rodgers was the one that got away from Tottenham and I am sure that all the Liverpool fans will agree that given a chance again to go back in time, they will prefer this decision every single time.