Fabio Borini and Rickie Lambert have been made to sit and watch Mario Balotelli gallivant his way through more than a few goalless 90 minutes this season and now that he has finally scored, they may as well get comfortable.
Watching the sulky Italian strop and struggle around the pitch is frustrating enough from the comfort of the couch so how must Liverpool’s other available hitmen feel about it? It’s like getting a jumper on Christmas. It doesn’t fit, you don’t want it but you feel you have to wear it because it was expensive.
Balotelli has scored 25 penalties in his career and if you remove them from the equation his goalscoring record looks measly. 78 goals from open play in 266 games for club and country does not seem worth the hassle considering Liverpool already have a settled spot-kick taker in captain Steven Gerrard. Put into perspective, that is only a marginally better strike rate than Danny Welbeck who cost the same price, has half the reputation and twice the work rate.
Just who sanctioned Super Mario’s arrival is a topic of some debate but the jury is still out on Brendan Rodgers’s performance in the market. The former Swansea supremo is a trailblazer in many respects having established himself as one of European football’s forward-thinkers but perhaps the fresh-faced manager should take a leaf from the book of some of his longer-toothed counterparts.
Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, the managerial big shows of the Premier League era, could write a sizable pamphlet on the art of replacement. When they were not busy trading blows via press conference, they were busy trading notes on how to fill the void left by key players.
Unit 1.1 of the handbook would deal with thriftiness. Just because your transfer kitty is splitting at the seams, it does not mean it has to be spent all at once. Ferguson favoured saving the monetary return on his sales for a time when the squad needed a cash injection the most while Wenger prefers to sock it away until a stadium needs building.
Next to nobody could argue the virtues of Antonio Valencia versus the qualities of Cristiano Ronaldo but in the interest of frugality he was exactly the cut-priced alternative Ferguson opted for to replace the charismatic Portuguese.
Fergie was under no allusions about what Valencia could bring to the party but instead he saw the remedy for their loss in the shape of Wayne Rooney. He merely elevated Rooney’s role in the squad to cater for the team’s attacking needs and used Valencia to keep the squad size healthy. The English striker went on to score 34 goals that season, halted only by a foot injury.
Promotion from within is a technique which Mr Wenger is also rather adept at. Mikel Arteta is no Cesc Fabregas replacement but the rise of Jack Wilshere and Aaron Ramsey to prominence insured the Spaniard’s services weren’t too sorely missed following his 2011 departure to Barcelona.
Lambert’s arrival at Anfield and Borini’s return from loan was enough to stop the squad number gap left by Suarez so perhaps Rodger’s would have been better served by placing his bets on what he had and saving for a rainy day rather than seeking immediate bang for his newfound buck.
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