Liverpool’s
interest in acquiring a new left-back this summer has been well publicised, and the club have been linked with a series of players from across Europe.
Perhaps the most prominent names to be mentioned have been Jose Enrique and Emilio Izaguirre, but with the former seemingly preferring a destination where he will be able to play Champions League football, and any deal for the latter seeming to have stalled as of late, Kenny Dalglish and Damien Comolli may have set their sights on former Liverpool defender Stephen Warnock.
Warnock, who came through the academy at Liverpool, was beginning to establish himself as a first-team regular at the club, proving to be a consistent and strong defender, before then-manager Rafael Benitez decided to sell the full-back to Blackburn, clearly not seeing him as part of his vision for Liverpool Football Club. This, however, proved to be just what Warnock needed, and he excelled at Blackburn, putting in a number of quality performances that saw him eventually make his debut for England.
He then moved to Aston Villa, a move which seemed to make all the sense in the world for the left-back, as with it came the opportunity of European qualification. Whilst things started well for Warnock at Villa Park, the arrival of Gerard Houllier saw Warnock used as nothing more than cover for the first-team, a similar role to the one he had enjoyed back when Houllier was his manager at Liverpool.
New Villa manager Alex McLeish seems to have other plans for Warnock though, effectively having declared him as his first choice left-back for the coming season, and as such, could demand an inflated fee from Liverpool should they pursue their man. Throw into the mix the premium being paid for English players this season, and Metro has reported that a fee of £8M may be required to land the experienced defender.
