Liverpool let Alvaro Arbeloa go too cheaply

Ollie Irish

3rd, August 2009

9 Comments

PA-7193418.jpg
Alvaro Arbeloa has moved to Real Madrid for around £3.5m. Few Liverpool supporters will mourn his departure - he was not the type of player who excited fans – but you have to say, Real have got an absolute bargain there: Arbeloa is a Spain international and at 26 he still has several good years in his legs. He never dazzled for Liverpool, but neither did he let the club down; his consistency was not the stuff of headlines but I think he was underrated by many fans.
But you can’t blame Liverpool for letting Alvaro go so cheaply. He only had a year left on his contract, so there was the prospect of getting nothing for him; £3.5m is better than nothing, obviously. And perhaps Rafa thinks the “gift” of Arbeloa will increase his negotiating power when it comes to keeping Xabi Alonso in England?
Either way, I think Arbeloa deserves a lot of respect for the way he played for Liverpool – he adapted to the Prem very quickly, I thought. Plus he never made the headlines for the wrong reasons. Solid professional, solid citizen. He may not be missed much, but he will be missed.

Posted in Liverpool, Real Madrid, Transfers & Rumours

Share this article: Email

9 Comments

  1. Mikey says:

    I don’t see what your point is mate. I was reeled in by thinking this was an article about football economics but instead I get a rather confusing piece concerning some well known points about a player and then a rather odd comment about keeping Alonso.

  2. King Kong says:

    He only has one year left in his contract. If he had 3 years, he’d cost Real 8 million at least.

  3. Anonymous says:

    I agree completely, very underrated player. Always solid, rarely made a mistake, and i think he was let go too cheaply. I remember his first game, against Barcelona, and he marked Messi. He didnt put a foot wrong! Best of luck in Madrid Alvaro.

  4. Lee says:

    He only had a year left on his contract, thats why he went for a low price lads.

  5. Anonymous says:

    I loved the fella, he was reliable and likeable and his goal celebrations were the best! Am going to bloody miss him.

  6. Rafa's Arsehole says:

    I let him go so cheap so i could finally start to use some of the supposed English talent we have coming through the ranks ( Hee-Hee)Ie… Stephen Darby, F#ck me is that it, i thought with all the millions we had spent on the Academy and all of the wages for the idiots who where running it we would have some decent return and dont f#cken start about ” THEY DON’T GET A CHANCE” Wah Wah Wah because if they where good enough in training and practise sessions then they would get a sniff, but so far they are nothing more than mediocre at best, Hence foreign talent is brought to give them a kick up the Arse, After all this is Liverpool they are trying out for not Everton!

  7. Brand0 says:

    Nonesense – he had one year left, was still on good wages and would have only been our no.2 this season behind Johnson. He’s a Euro Champion, so would have gone for £8-12m had he 2 or more years on his contract. Teams cannot play hardball with players with just a year left when they can go for free the following year. Plus we can put Degen to use – see if he’s any good. Having said that, Arbeloa was as unsung as Finnan was, yet he was very consistant, has a great touch for a full back and isn;t a bad passer either.

  8. Robbo says:

    Arbe was, on the whole, well liked at Anfield and he did a great job. He only cost £2.5m so we have made a profit on a player in the final year of his contract.
    It’s also well known he was a little bit homesick so what else was Rafa Benitez to do?

  9. Emm says:

    I’d say it was about the right price for him. He would not have gotten in ahead of Johnson (not worth 18 mil). Would not have expected him to have gone to Madrid though. A dependable and quiet player hardly seems their style, plus they already have that long haired git Ramos.

Leave a Reply to Anonymous