Liverpool have decided not to go ahead with a move to sign Deportivo Saprissa’s Christian Bolaños despite him being hugely impressive during a week’s trial at Melwood.
One of the concerns felt by the coaching staff seems to be that the player is not ready yet for English football. He was advised to try a spell playing in Spanish football to help him to grow accustomed to the differences found in the European game.
The official line from Anfield came from a Reds spokesman, who said: “He did well in his time at the club but we decided he was not exactly the type of player we were looking for at the moment.”
Rafael Benitez had seen the player in action in Japan at last month’s FIFA Club World Championships and wanted to try him out. He was accompanied by the Saprissa sporting director, but the pair have now been allowed to return to Costa Rica.
One target that Liverpool are definitely interested in is proving harder and harder to land by the day. Daniel Agger was all set to become a Red last week with a transfer fee of £5.5million provisionally set. Brondy however decided to up the price to £7million, and once again Liverpool find themselves having to decide whether it’s worth increasing their offer. Just to add a bit more pressure to the dealings, Brondby have now announced that Agger has been called up to the Danish under-21 squad about to leave Denmark until January 29th.
Taking in three friendlies as well as a training camp, the under-21s are travelling to Spain tomorrow, where they’ll stay until Monday when they travel to Chile. Brondby’s coach, Michael Laudrup, is resigned to losing the player, and feels this call-up has come at a bad time. Speaking yesterday he said: “This decision is the wrong one for Agger. With such a talented player, it’s not a question of if he leaves Brondby, but where and for how much.” Laudrup is also no doubt minded of the difficulties caused by this kind of uncertainty, and would like the issue resolved so that he can get back to working with the resources he’s got – including any part of the transfer fee that he is given.
At least there is some good news expected on the transfer front tomorrow. David Martin should finalise his move from Milton Keynes Dons to Liverpool. The 19-year-old keeper is the son of West Ham’s former defender Alvin Martin and is seen by the staff at Anfield as a major prospect for the future. When he joins he’ll become part of the new-look Liverpool reserve set-up. He’s still got to finalise the discussions over his personal terms and will then undergo a medical, but these are expected to only be formalities.
The new-look reserves were beaten 2-1 last night by Newcastle reserves, but the game saw the further progress of striker Neil Mellor on his way back from injury. Mellor scored Liverpool’s goal in a game which also saw new signing Paul Anderson star for the Reds.