“It’s not as if they will be losing one of the most important players” – Reds Legend Slams Star Liverpool Midfielder

After the Philippe Coutinho saga ended with the Brazilian staying at Anfield, there could be another such story coming up, with Emre Can being the player. The German has not signed a new contract with us and will be a free agent at the end of the season.

While many of us want to keep the German, a former Reds winger, doesn’t believe that Can is that important a player for our side.

John Barnes was speaking to Express Sport and had this to say about the German being linked with a move to bigger clubs.

“It’s up to Emre Can [not signing a new deal]. It’s all very well saying, ‘Give him what he wants to stay or he’s going to go to Real Madrid, Barcelona.’

“But that’s not going to happen. They don’t want Emre Can.”

The former winger also added that fans didn’t actually like Can all that much a few months ago and now we are acting up.

“People were saying Emre was not a particularly good player and now all of a sudden he’s Pele!

“Once upon a time Emre Can was not particularly liked at Liverpool so why now all of a sudden are we saying, ‘Oh we have to keep Emre Can?’”

Barnes also added that we should try to keep players that want to remain at Liverpool and not those who hanker for a move. The Englishman was brutal on Can as he stated that losing the German would not be like us losing one of our important players, and that he would not find a better club than ours.

“We want players to stay who want to stay at Liverpool. Obviously if he decides to leave I don’t think that Emre Can would necessarily find a better club than Liverpool.

“It’s not as if they will be losing one of the most important players if he decides not to re-sign his contract. Liverpool cannot be held to ransom by a player because they feel they deserve whatever money they want.”

Can To Juventus, A Possibility?

Can has been linked with a move to Juventus ever since the end of last season. The German moved to us from Bayer Leverkusen and had a great end to the season last time around, especially scoring a wonderful goal against Watford.

The German hasn’t been consistent for us this season, with his best performance coming in the home win over Hoffenheim, which was for a place in the Champions League playoff stages.

Losing any player for free would be painful, however, we are already bringing in Naby Keita from Leipzig next season and that could soften the blow of losing the German to the Italian giants.