Top five most overrated Liverpool players in recent history
Most overrated Liverpool players? Which Liverpool players are the most overrated? We have compiled a list of the top five most overrated players at Liverpool. So which Liverpool players are not as good as everyone thinks they are? Well you’re going to find out.
Top 5 most overrated Liverpool players
Many great players have come and gone at Liverpool. Some became legends such as Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres. While others were just not as good as everyone thought they were. Here is the list of the top five most overrated Liverpool players.
5. Mario Balotelli
The eccentric Italian was a one off figure in football. His career started in Italy before moving to England and it kept switching from Italy to England to France. His stance in England began with Manchester City where initially he did rather well but was again moved out due to attitude problems.
Balotelli had a mixed career. His talent has always been prodigious but the player has never had discipline. No manager ever has been able to tackle him.
“I could write a book of 200 pages of my two years at Inter with Mario, but the book would not be a drama – it would be a comedy,” the current Manchester United manager, who told the story during his spell with Real Madrid, said.
“I remember one time when we went to play Kazan in the Champions League. In that match I had all my strikers injured. No Diego Milito, no Samuel Eto’o, I was really in trouble and Mario was the only one.
“Mario got a yellow card in minute 42 or 43, so when I got to the dressing room at half-time I spend about 14 minutes of the 15 speaking only to Mario.
“I said to him: ‘Mario, I cannot change you, I have no strikers on the bench, so don’t touch anybody and play only with the ball. If we lose the ball no reaction. If someone provokes you, no reaction, if the referee makes a mistake, no reaction. Mario – please’.
“Minute 46 – red card!”
Despite knowing all this, Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers took the risk of signing him. And the move terribly backfired. He scored two goals in his entire Liverpool tenure and the move miserably failed.
The player was a talented striker who failed to adjust and Liverpool fans were left disappointed but not surprised with the move.
4. Jonjo Shelvey
He was a very talented player when Liverpool signed him. He was young, dynamic and had a brilliant shot on him. He was a midfielder who could score from long range, make midfield tackles, and the pass the ball long and short.
However, once again he was a player he was short of the right mental attitude to play for a big club. He had disciplinary issue and made some rash tackles or got into some ugly fights which got him sent off multiple times.
Shelvey had formerly been called lazy, a claim he has downright turned down.
Shelvey said: “I get labelled lazy, maybe because of my body language and I’m quite a laid-back character.
“You can run 15k if you want, but at the end of the day, I’m a footballer.
“Do you see Gazza running 15k? Do you see people like that?
“I’m not comparing myself to them but I understand that football is changing and evolving, and I am evolving with it, but I get labelled lazy.
“People can say what they want. I’m the one that goes out there and trains every day as hard as I can.”
Former Liverpool boss and current manager of Newcastle, Benitez, has praised the player.
“I told Jonjo: ‘You won’t be involved at West Ham’ when we were training and he asked to play for the Under-23s to improve his match fitness,” said Benítez. “I think it was a very positive movement. Jonjo wants to play to ensure he can get that change of pace, the contact and all the things you get during matches.”
This has shown how much the player has changed from his match days with Liverpool.
3. Alberto Moreno
How he managed to play two seasons, no one will know. More importantly, he played over Andy Robertson for the first half of the debut season of the Scot. He was good with going on the overlap and had decent pass but defensively he was a nightmare. He made silly tackles, got caught out of position and gave away too many fouls. He was however, always playing somehow, extremely overrated.
2. Andy Carroll
Liverpool paid a fortune for him. He was their record signing at one point. He was tipped to be the best player at Liverpool as a promising Englishman. However, his goal scoring exploits which got him fame at Newcastle United were gone. He could not repeat what he did and the player was a massive failure at Liverpool. Like many other Englishmen, he was a talent who never really made it on the big stage.
1. Loris Karius
He was signed by Liverpool under Klopp and the German coach backed his compatriot to become a successful goalkeeper at Anfield. He was young and could have developed. However, the player never really got into the groove, made lots of mistakes and it cost him his career and Liverpool a Champions League trophy.
SEE MORE:
- Liverpool Champions League titles: All Champions League titles won by Liverpool
- Top 10 most expensive Liverpool departures
- Top 10 Liverpool players to score 50 EPL goals
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