Transfer Talk: Pranjic's "Unassuming Majesty"
3Tuesday, May 12, 2009 by Paul Grech
In news that has left many unimpressed, Herenveen's Croatian winger Daniel Pranjic is being linked with a move to Liverpool. Although signing a twenty-six year old from a small Dutch club might mirror what Gerard Houllier did a decade ago with Sami Hyypia, it isn't something to look forward to especially when other stories are mentioning the likes of Carlos Tevez and David Silva.
Indeed, such is the eagerness to rush into judgement that Pranjic has already been written off as a waste of money. This despite that not only does it remain to be seen whether Liverpool really are interested in him but also the fact that in reality few have seen him play (Youtube doesn't count).
Someone who has seen a fair bit of Pranjic is the Guardian's correspondent on Dutch football Leander Schaerlaeckens and it seems that he's been impressed. Pranjic makes it into his team of the year from the Eredivisie.
Somewhat poetically, he says that "scoring 16 goals with insulting ease, Pranjic and his unassuming majesty led a drab Heerenveen to fifth place."
Interestingly, he chose Luis Suarez - another who has been linked with a move to Liverpool - say that "annoying many along the way, Suárez's star continued to rise and shone more brightly after the departure of Klaas-Jan Huntelaar. His craftiness almost redeemed a fetid Ajax front-line – but not quite."
Now, neither of these comments should be taken as scouting reports on the value of the two players. Yet they at least add some insight on players who, in reality, 99% of the people talking about them know little of.
Category Transfer Talk, Transfers
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3 comments »
Looks like an OK player good technique, balance and a good left foot. However the majority of this players goals were pens and free kicks. At Liverpool he will need to jump ahead of Steven Gerrard and Aurelio and Alonso to take these. To be honest this is not likely to happen.
To be honest I don’t think he is massively better than Onion and Lurch.
For this reason I think we need to go for a player who is going to play in a wide role and score 10+ league goals a season and create 7-10 assists a season from wide position. With more experience and confidence a player like Riera could make this leap possibly next season. If I was Rafa I would go for better option and only go for this player if we decide to move Riera on and as and sign him up as a backup if we miss out on a big name alternative.
A tactic of signing players like Pranjic will not win us the title next year as its evident that we needed a couple of world class forward / Attacking players to break down or create something when teams park the bus in front of us.
Better signing a player like Tevez and one other really quality purchase than buying more players with potential and hoping that they will be able to make the step up!
I have seen Pranjic play and I can say ke is a good signing, a player that can play left wing midfield and as a left full back. He is better than Downing for sure, and he could make it posible for Benitez to cash in on Riera and Dosena, as he can play as well as, and better than they do.
I kinda like Riera... I think a right winger and a right back should be ahead of a striker (in order to win the league for next season) then again Rafa is his own man and I doubt he'll listen to us mere bloggers on what he should do with his transfer kitty...
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