Ian Abrahams @BroadcastMoose 4m
Looks like Raheem Sterling is the player bring linked with West Ham, but I'm told its not a done deal yet
Sterling reported to be close to a loan deal !!
Also Bit about this Benfica guy
Liverpool target Lorenzo Melgarejo: An in-depth look at the Benfica man wanted by the Kop
“Why did they let him go?” is one of the first questions any fan wondering about a new acquisition should ask when a young prospect is released.
In the case of 22 year-old Paraguayan Lorenzo Melgarejo, the apparently simple answer of “he didn’t do the business for Benfica last season”, is just one, very small, part of the story.
First thing's first. Liverpool target Melgarejo is an exciting, talented, free-scoring left winger .
Or rather, he was.
His position is purposely written in italics, because if you read any review on Benfica in 2012/13, Melgarejo will be correctly listed as a left-back.
However, it was on the wing where he made his name. He was bought by Benfica from Independiente in 2011 and immediately loaned out to modest Portuguese top-flight club, Paços de Ferreira. This is common practice in Portugal, with FC Porto and Benfica especially contracting a bucket-load of South Americans each summer, a significant proportion of whom fit into the “let’s have a punt on him” category. Most disappear without trace.
Not Melgarejo. A string of vibrant displays on the left flank (see video) saw him finish top scorer for Paços in 2011/12 (10 goals in 29 league games), almost single-handedly saving the club from relegation. It was enough to persuade Benfica to bring him into the senior squad on an improved and extended contract until 2018, with a €30 million release clause written into it.
However, Melgarejo was never given the chance to build on his brilliant season in his natural position. Benfica coach Jorge Jesus’ all-out attacking philosophy makes his teams a joy to watch, but the tactician comes with a hefty dose of arrogance, some would say delusion, others downright stubbornness.
Jesus insisted from the outset that Melgarejo would be Benfica’s first-choice left-back, undoubtedly influenced by the spectacular success in bringing about the exact same conversion in the case of Fábio Coentrão. Coentrão arrived at Benfica a talented winger. He left in exchange for €30 million euros from Real Madrid having established himself as one of the world’s finest in his position.
It soon became clear to most onlookers that history would not repeat itself. A series of blunders during preseason cost several goals but Jesus insisted in proving the critics wrong. Not even after the first Liga game of the season, when Melgarejo scored a spectacular own goal and laid on a perfect ‘assist’ for the opposition, in a 2-2 draw against Braga, would Jesus be dissuaded from abandoning his experiment.
And so the whole season the position remained Benfica’s weak spot, with opposition teams evidently targeting Melgarejo. He improved, but his lack of aggression and positional difficulties made it clear, especially against stronger adversaries, that he did not have the attributes to perform the role asked of him to any degree of success. By the end of the campaign the penny finally dropped and Jorge Jesus dropped Melgarejo for the Portuguese Cup final.
The skill, speed and directness of the Paraguayan’s forward runs in 2012/13, allied to a commendable incisiveness (scoring in successive home games in March) shows he remains an exciting prospect with a big future in the game. But not at left-back.
http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/ ... th-2101704
