Liverpool midfielder Bolo Zenden has been publicly identified as a target by PSV Eindhoven boss Ronald Koeman.
PSV were Zenden’s first professional club and he won a league title amongst other honours before he joined Barcelona. After Barcelona he moved to the Premiership, spending time at Chelsea and then Middlesbrough before becoming a Red in summer 2005.
Koeman said of Bolo: “Zenden is a good player with a lot of experience and we want to increase the amount of Dutch players. He has a warm feeling for PSV. We are really looking for these types of guys.”
Zenden’s return to Holland would be a big boost to the club he made his name at, but he feels it’s perhaps a little too soon for him to go back again: “I had a fantastic time at PSV, but I am not sure I have finished my job abroad to return to the Netherlands.”
Zenden’s future at Anfield remains open. Able to play either centrally or on the left of midfield, Bolo is certainly a useful player to have available in the squad. He knows he’s not a first-choice at the club, but then very few players are under Rafa’s way of selecting appropriate players for appropriate games. This season Rafa expected he would be using Zenden predominately as a central midfielder, and that was part of the reason Didi Hamann was allowed to join Manchester City in the summer.
With new signing Javier Mascherano making his debut in central midfield at the weekend, and Xabi Alonso, Momo Sissoko and Steven Gerrard also fighting for those two places, Bolo’s worth in that position may be diminished. However Rafa expected more in their first seasons from Mark González and Fabio Aurelio on that left flank. Through injury and poor form neither player has yet hit the levels hoped for from them, meaning Bolo is still important to have available in that position. Harry Kewell’s many injuries mean he’s looking less and less likely to ever play for the club again, with his contract due to end in the summer and no signs that he’s ready to negotiate a new one.
Koeman may have to wait at least one more season to get his man.