Well, finally there are changes ringing in at Melwood. Ryan Babel is off to Hoffenheim, if he can't get to Ajax first, for roughly a little under 6 million quid. We've discussed Ryan Babel here before, and I'd like to get upset about his career and his exit. There are those who will tell you that Babel never got a fair shake, always being a substitute and rarely getting to play what would seem his natural position of striker. But Babel's been here for four years, and three different coaches didn't consider him necessary. Maybe none of these managers were good enough to develop him, or maybe he just didn't work hard enough, or his game is as good as it's going to get. I don't know the answer. What I do know is that after this amount of time, if he isn't in the starting 11, then he's just not going to be. Look at how quickly Dalglish made it clear Daniel Agger was going to be one of the first on the team sheet. If he believed in Babel that much, wouldn't he have been to?
The big buzz about a player coming in is Luis Suarez. I would feel even better about this if he were bringing Diego Forlan with him, but let's not get greedy. You can't argue Suarez's record, as 35 goals in the Eredvise last season is pretty impressive. But then again, Dirk Kuyt scored like Tiger Woods in Holland too, and he's currently watching passes ricochet off his feet like the Hadron Collider. Suarez looks like the replacement for Torres, when he fucks off to City or Chelsea in the summer (he can't go to Barca, wouldn't ever go to Madrid, and I can't figure out where else he'd go), but for the rest of the season I wonder how Torres and Suarez would play together. Torres has never done all that well with an out-and-out striking partner, even he and David Villa can't sync up for Spain and his goal in the Euro 2008 Final was with Villa injured. However, Suarez is much more of a poacher than anyone Torres has played with at Liverpool, so maybe Torres would still make all the runs he normally would with Suarez cleaning up after. We know Suarez can handle a lone striker role, as during the World Cup Forlan basically retreated to being an advanced midfielder.
I look forward to finding out though.
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