Liverpool’s contract negotiations with midfielder Emre Can have hit a standstill.
The situation is as follows: Liverpool have made Can an offer. He believes that he is worth more than the club is offering.
With Can’s current deal running out in 2018, the club will see themselves with two options in the summer.
Either tie down Can to a longer term deal, or sell him, with Juventus looking like potential suitors, for a fee likely in the region of £20 or £30 million.
So, one, should Liverpool be worried about this situation? and two, would losing Can be a massive blow to the club?
Should Liverpool be worried?
The short answer is no. Liverpool have proven to be an astute club in their dealings in the transfer market over the last few years, particularly with regards to selling players.
It took Luis Suárez forcing his way out of the club for Liverpool to sell him, at nearly double what they could have made the summer before. Likewise, the club made £50 million off Raheem Sterling, a player who was replaced by Roberto Firmino for less than £30 million, and Firmino has been a significant upgrade.
If Liverpool are going to sell Can, then it will be on their own terms, and they will have a replacement in mind.
There are two key factors in this negotiation: money, and Jürgen Klopp. Can is currently earning a reported £55,000-a-week, which for a player of his stature at the club is far too little.
Moreover, at only 23 years of age, and playing a crucial role in the midfield, Can is perfectly entitled to expect the club to offer him the same wages as Georginio Wijnaldum (£90,000 p/w) or even Jordan Henderson (£100,000 p/w) or Adam Lallana (£110,000 p/w).
It’s unlikely that Can is asking for the same wages as Philippe Coutinho for example (£150,000 p/w) and as such, it’s entirely plausible that the club will be able to reach a compromise in their negotiations.
Also, Can is very much a Jürgen Klopp favourite, and that cannot hurt his cause. The young German international may not have as many fans as Wijnaldum, but given that one of those fans is Liverpool’s manager, it’s unlikely that Klopp would sanction the sale of one of his key players.
That means that if Klopp endorses the sale of Can, it will be because someone has offered more than what Can is worth or because Can is being unreasonable with negotiations and Klopp has a suitable replacement lined up.
In short: Liverpool will not let Emre Can go lightly, and if they do decide to sell him, rather than paying him what he believes he is worth, then it will only be because Klopp has someone else to step into the player's shoes.
Would losing Can be a massive blow to the club?
Short and simple, yes. Emre Can is an extremely talented young player and to lose him would be a blow for the club for a number of reasons. First of all, at 23, only Divock Origi is younger out of the core squad of players.
He is three years younger than Wijnaldum and Henderson, and five years younger than Lallana, meaning that he has the most room for improvement under Klopp.
Moreover, Can is already an extremely talented and powerful central midfielder, who adds a lot to the team. He’s the most solid defensive option of himself, Wijnaldum and Lallana, making him invaluable in big games, and he’s also the most versatile of the midfield trio, in that he’s the only one who can cover Henderson in the defensive midfield role.
Despite hitting a sticky patch for large swathes of this season, he’s still been a negligible drop statistically from Wijnaldum, so imagine how good he can be when he actually reaches his potential.
Another point in Can’s favour is the calibre of the team that is courting him. Whilst Liverpool will feel that they will only sell Can on their own terms, Can himself must be tempted by Juventus, who are a significant step up from the Reds right now.
The fact that one of the biggest teams in Europe sees Can as a replacement for Paul Pogba (and I want to reiterate this point: Juventus think Can has the potential to be as good as Pogba) should surely speak volumes of his talent.
Not to mention the fact that Klopp sees the same thing in Can, and by now Liverpool fans should be by and large trusting Klopp’s judgement of players.
The final reason Liverpool should want to hold onto Can is that we want to strengthen the depth of our midfield area.
At the moment, Liverpool have four first-choice central midfield players for three spots. After that, the drop down is considerable. Henderson’s replacements are Lucas Leiva and Kevin Stewart, whilst if Liverpool were to lose Lallana and Wijnaldum for a period of time, the other options are playing Coutinho away from his favoured position or utilising an unproven and inexperienced young player such as Ovie Ejaria or Marko Grujić.
Simply put, Liverpool shouldn’t need to sell Can in order to bring in an experienced central midfield option. That does not solve the depth problem in the slightest, it at best leaves Liverpool with a slight improvement and at worst leaves them with a weakened central midfield.
Can should and probably will stay
Overall, it is likely that Liverpool will hold on to Emre Can this summer and this is the right move. The club should, within reason, pay Can whatever it is that he is asking for and it’s likely that they will.
However, if they decide that letting him go is the better course of action, then ultimately, whilst this will be a huge blow for the club, it is one that the club is well-equipped to handle under Klopp.