As we stagger towards the end of the second batch of World Cup qualifying matches in as many months into this new season, chock full of riveting matchups and nail-biters, fans of the major clubs (and fans of exciting football in general) have been aching for the ordeal to end.
The Liverpool news cycle in particular has been slower than a Rooney-Fellaini midfield. The one-year anniversary of Jürgen Klopp’s appointment as Reds manager has been celebrated and dissected ad nauseum. There’s been some cool news, some bad news, some silly news and some “sure, I guess so” news, and with an unbearable six days still left before the epic showdown with Man Utd next Monday, journos have needed to get creative.
All of which leads us to comments made by Damien Comolli, the former and oft-criticized Director of Football Strategy between 2010-2012. In a week in which Liverpool’s Jordan Henderson is set to temporarily take the armband from Wayne Rooney as captain of the England national team, Comolli has piped up, in a defense that no one really asked for, to discuss his signing of the former Sunderland man for a then-outrageous sum of £20m.
“Henderson is one of the main reasons I got sacked [by FSG in 2012],” he went as far to say.
“The day I got sacked they told me I had made a big mistake on Jordan and he was a waste of money. Everybody is entitled to their own opinion, but I think we paid the right price,” speaking to talkSPORT.
“He was a young English, British player and we know very often that British players are overvalued. But we were more than happy to pay the price because we thought he would become an outstanding player.
“I never said it publicly, but I was convinced he would be the future captain. People will say it is easy to say now, but I was convinced at the time that he would become the Liverpool captain. Now he is and he is also the England captain.”
Gotcha bud, much appreciated.
In addition to Henderson, Comolli’s oversaw the successful signings of Luis Suarez (£22.8m) and Craig Bellamy over the course of his tenure….as well as other, shall we say, “lesser lights” including the likes of Andy Carroll (£35m), Stewart Downing (£20m), Charlie Adam (~£7m), Doni (lol), Jose Enrique (£7) and Sebastián Coates (£7m).
While Liverpool fans can never be grateful enough for the joy Suarez brought to Anfield in his time on Merseyside, the Frenchman’s overall transfer record was a mixed bag at best, and the comments smacked of a opportunistic attempt at retroactive image rehabilitation.
However, on a news day in which a fringe player’s opinion on his loan spell in the Austrian league merited column inches, a reason to tangentially gloat over a Red deposing a Manc as England captain isn’t too shabby.