This is going to be a bit of an "I told you so" post but I was curious to see how some of our former prospects did in their careers. It's a bit like Chris's Loan Watch but with a few players we've sold over the years. Lets start with Emiliano Insua. Emiliano Insua played at Liverpool after being signed from Boca Juniors for Gabriel Paletta + cash in 2007. After getting the first team spot under Rafa Benitez (following a title-winning first season in the reserves), he put in a string of good performances to make the spot his own. At the time he was only 19 turning 20 and viewed as a great prospect for the future. Highlights include scoring an incredible goal vs Arsenal and starting 6 CL games in a row. "Owing to frequent injuries to Fabio Aurelio, the young Argentine became our mainstay at leftback in the ill-fated campaign of 2009-2010. The situation was such that the youngster ended up having to play many more games than most any player at Anfield at the time; with the inevitable result that his form suffered badly towards the end of that season. The indications were that the exertions were a bit too much for such a young player, who nevertheless managed to break into the Argentine senior side." - The Kop Blog post He was then dropped completely from the squad and bench under Hodgson. The club agreed a fee with Fiorentina but the deal never finalised and he was sent on loan to Galatasaray. After being kicked off the squad by a manager who wanted to nationalise the squad (reduce foreign players) he returned to Liverpool extremely demoralised. He put in some poor performances in friendlies and Kenny sold him to Sporting Lisbon in 2011. Since then he has featured extensively in Lisbon's fairly successful season (they are in the semi's of the Europa League) and scored 5 goals in 31 appearances. He is turning heads and is being targeted by Olympique Lyon. He's scored against Lazio and earned high ratings for his contribution. He played excellently against City in the EL and in fact helped dump them out of the competition. All in all, we may have made a mistake in letting him go without repaying him with the chance to follow up a promising first season in the starting squad (blighted by exertion near the end). 2. Mikel San Jose. Mikel was signed from Athletic Bilbao in 2007 and played for the reserves in their title-winning season. He was constantly touted as an extremely talented defender and apparently was knocking on the doors of the first team. He never managed to break out of the academy however, and left on loan in 2009 to go back to Athletic Bilbao. He stated he was frustrated at lack of opportunities which prompted his manager to give him 30 appearances over the season, earning good reviews. Since then, Athletic signed him permanently and he has become one of Europe's most promising defenders. Milan are reportedly interested and he has managed to score two goals in the season. I watched him in an earlier La Liga game this season, he has a massive presence and dominates the back half of the pitch. He's another one that got better with the playing time he never recieved at Liverpool. 3. Krisztian Nemeth Signed from MTK in 2007 (that year again...) he was widely touted as the best player in our reserves regulary, scoring and assisting tons of goals. He was our best academy player in 2007-08 (winning that title) and yet never got a call up to the senior side. After putting in some impressive performances he went first to Blackpool, then to AEK on loan. At AEK he scored 3 goals in 19 appearances but managed a great number of assists and helped AEK reach the playoffs. He returned to Liverpool but soon after left after learning he wouldn't get any opportunities for another season. He went to Olympiacos where he put in an assist in 4 matches before terminating his contract. Since then he has played short contracts at various clubs, ending back up at MTK. His national side form (u-21 and down) has been excellent though, where he scores left right and center, after having been named in the European U18 team of the year in 2008. While he never reached his potential due to injuries and no playing time, he never proved himself on a larger stage and perhaps it was best to let him go. I remember hoping he would get a chance like Dani Pacheco but that was never to be. Now, his career has stagnated but hopefully he can get it back on track. Others The Finnish youngster Lauri Dalla Valle was signed once again in 2007 as a future prospective striker. He started off well, playing a good part in the team that reached the FA Youth Cup Final in 2009, scoring 8 goals. He trained well and earned a call up to the reserve side in 2009, where he had a memorable hat trick in just around 30 minutes against Leicester City. Many expected him to potentially make it considering he didn't get injured often, and because he recieved a senior shirt number for the following season. Alexander Kacaniklic was also touted as having a future at the club after scoring a wonderful goal in the 08/09 final of the FA Youth Cup. He put in some excellent shifts for the reserves but once again found himself not recieving any call ups to the senior side, and in 2010 was sold with Lauri to Fulham, where both have had a positive start to the rest of their career. Alexander was praised by Fulham boss Jol and will likely recieve a new contract. Dalla Valle has been on a number of successful loans since.
I agree San Jose and Insua are improving every season we should have held on to both. We've always bigged up our youth too much but this current crop does seem to be very good. I hope I'm right.
Yeah, but they always seem very good, it's the lack of playing time that kills em off. It's taken Sterling such a long time to get a sniff of the first team, (Pacheco never even got further than that) that I feel someone like Suso will never get that chance. Which is a shame because the only way to tell how good a kid is, is to play them with the seniors (be it a friendly, cameo, whatever).
Insua was a mistake and if I remember correctly he divided opinion on whether we should have kept him. He had age on his side and under Clarkes coaching would of only got better, a shame he is not battling Enrique for the LB slot!
We bought konchesky and brought back Aurelio and I think Insua was regarded as one of Rafas that could be cut away.....unfortunate.
well who's mistakes are they? these things happen but rafa sent inusa away on that disasterous loan after trying his best to flog the lad. btw he still looks about 10 yards out of position. San jose got homesick so i'm glad he made a career for himself. in the end ayala and pacheco can make it if they work at it..... no point in blaming hodgson is the point but hey I wouldn't be too pushed with blaming rafa either.... rafa did end the kid and he wanted to go as a result, hodgson only finished the job... IMO their real error was aurelio.
Insua was very good until he had the extended run in the team as a result of Aurelio's injuries - he was really poor. He needed to be rotated but we didn't have that luxury. It'a shame, had Aurelio not been injured, I feel Insua would have progressed at LFC.
