Home » Columns » Ramble Of The Day » Fan rant of the day: Fekir deal might be off due to injury issues but Liverpool have had it in the past

Fan rant of the day: Fekir deal might be off due to injury issues but Liverpool have had it in the past

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By Thomas Hein

Nabil Fekir

Liverpool have gone out and done it again. They were incredibly close to landing one of the best players in the world, Nabil Fekir and pulled the plug on the 25-year-old coming to Anfield reportedly because of a dodgy knee.

Cue hundreds of thousands of Liverpool fans absolutely going mental on social media and having a good old go at the management, Jurgen Klopp, Michael Edwards, John Henry, Sergio Ramos and Michael Owen.

All right, the last two players weren’t abused because Fekir was not coming but Ramos and Owen aren’t any saints for the stuff they have pulled off on us.

Yes, Fekir could have been the next Philippe Coutinho. Yes, Fekir could have been the link to our front three. Yes, Fekir could have turned out to become a world-beater and could have made us more deadly.

On the flip side, Liverpool do know what they are doing when it comes to medicals and players. At least, they should know by now.

Injuries burn Liverpool a lot

Fekir’s injury a few years ago was an ACL tear that ruled him out for the season at Lyon. For those not in the know, it is incredibly difficult to get back to playing in the best way after an ACL tear.

We all remember how Lucas Leiva was ruling the roost and was probably the best midfielder in the Premier League at one point before suffering an ACL injury and missed 34 games for the Reds.

In fact, after that injury in 2011-12, Lucas picked up seven more injuries and missed an additional 44 games across five seasons.

Lucas Leiva

Even legendary players such as Ronaldo could not get back to being the best after picking up serious injuries while playing for Inter Milan. So maybe, Liverpool were trying to play it safe and not sign a player for £53m only to see him sit on the sidelines.

ACLs can be tricky to diagnose and understand and we should be trusting the LFC medical team after their history of dealing with injuries to already signed players.

One player that epitomises our bad luck with injuries has to be Daniel Sturridge. The English striker spent half of last season on loan at West Brom and as soon as he made his debut, he picked up an injury.

In fact, Sturridge has had a multitude of injuries since moving to Liverpool and has missed 99 games for the Reds in 567 days across five seasons.

Daniel Sturridge

That is almost two complete seasons out with injury!

We have also had the likes of Alberto Aquilani, the big replacement for Xabi Alonso, but the Italian was never able to create a name for himself at Anfield and was out for 214 days and 22 games with an injury.

Turning the clock back a few more years, we had one of the most talented left-backs in Fabio Aurelio who missed 29 games in three years while Philipp Degen was probably made of glass as he picked up way too many injuries.

daniel agger
Daniel Agger

Daniel Agger was another top talent that had his issues with injuries as the Dane missed a mammoth 111 games for the Reds in over eight years.

Liverpool have had their fair share of injury-ridden players and if they are willing to not take a risk with a player that could have another major injury, why should we go all ballistic on them?

Of course, injuries are based on luck too. It could so well happen that Fekir stays fit for the rest of his career and becomes one of the greatest players to have ever played the game, however, avoiding risky signings, especially when it comes to injuries, is important for us as we look to build a young team that can stay together for years and challenge for titles.

Fabinho

Fabinho and Keita aren’t even 25, while our attack’s oldest player is Sadio Mane, who is 26. These are the building blocks for a great future and our transfer history under Klopp has been good too, apart from a couple of dodgy signings that have yet to bear fruit.

We should trust our German manager and the scouting team as the likes of Mane, Salah, Robertson and even Georginio Wijnaldum have done pretty well, while Roberto Firmino has become one of the best forwards in England.

If we aren’t getting Fekir, there must a proper reason for it and we should just stay calm and look ahead to the transfer window as we are now capable of getting any player we want.