Liverpool look set to undergo some major surgery to their playing staff this summer as new boss Brendan Rodgers addresses the issue over whether certain players fit in with his ‘philosophy’ or not, and one player that immediately springs to mind as being under serious threat is Jay Spearing, so what does the future hold for the central midfielder?
Spearing was undoubtedly the main beneficiary of Lucas Leiva season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury last term, and played the majority of the side’s game under Kenny Dalglish towards the end of the season, making 16 league appearances and 25 across all competitions.
However, when you look at the sort of manager Rodgers is and the sort of players that he likes for his central midfield roles, Spearing sticks out like a sore thumb as being the antithesis to anything even approaching a ball-playing midfielder.
The problem with him is that he’s caught between two stalls; he’s neither an exceptionally gifted tackler, nor energetic enough to cover ground quickly and for once in the modern-game, his relative lack of size is a determining factor. He has a decent passing range, but is still capable of the odd huge gaffe, as was best shown by his quite simply diabolical showing in the FA Cup final against Chelsea where his poor cross-field pass directly led to Ramires’ opening goal.
Gylfi Sigurdsson looks set to sign for the club, while Steven Gerrard has proven while on England duty so far at Euro 2012 that he’s extremely capable in a deeper-lying, more reserved and disciplined holding role as he comes to terms with accepting that he’s not quite the box-to-box midfielder he once was.
Add into the mix the return of the hugely missed Lucas, Jordan Henderson and Jonjo Shelvey, who began to show a degree of promise with an extended run in the side towards the back-end of last season and Spearing’s chances already look limited before a spending spree even begun.
Rodgers midfield triumvarite of Allen, Britton and Sigurdsson at Swansea worked well, and with the Icelandic international set to follow his mentor Rodgers to Anfield, even someone with as much experience as Alberto Aquilani begins to look surplurs to requirements, let alone Spearing.
Rumours that the club are in the hunt for former Wigan holding man Mohamed Diame refuse to go away, as the club kept in place the deal set up before Dalglish departed, as they seek to add more steel to their engine room, with the side guilty of letting the opposition play far too much in front of them at times last term.
If truth be told, if he wasn’t a local-born player, Spearing’s time at Liverpool would have been up some time ago, but the crucial currency of geography has afforded him more opportunities than his ability is worth. Even as a squad player, he may survive for the time being but he’s simply not good enough to be kept around the club in the long-term and he looks to be operating on borrowed time.
Do you think Spearing will be kept at the club much longer?
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