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Featured: Red of the Day - Nuri Sahin


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by Dave Usher

 

Germanborn Turkish international midfielder Nuri Sahin arrived at Anfield on what was supposed to be a 12 month loan deal from Real Madrid in the summer of 2012. The Reds had beaten Arsenal to the player's signature and it was seen as something of a coup.

 

Sahin had made his name as a youngster at Borussia Dortmund, helping them to their first Bundesliga title in nine years in 2011 when he was also named the league's best player. Real Madrid swooped to sign him up on a six year contract, but his first year in Spain was a struggle due to a combination of injuries and being unable to dislodge the likes of Xabi Alonso and Sami Khedira from Jose Mourinho's midfield.

 

The arrival of Luca Modric from Spurs pushed Sahin even further down the food chain at the Bernabeu and Madrid were keen to loan him out to help him regain form and fitness. Arsenal thought they had a deal tied up for him but at the last minute he opted for Anfield.

 

His first appearance ironically came against the Gunners, but it wasn't a good experience for him as he struggled with the pace of the game and Arsenal ran out comfortable winners. He'd been thrown in at the deep end and was clearly not ready for that kind of intense game, but he started showing glimpses of what he could do with three goals in the space of four days in late September.

 

He scored twice in a League Cup win at the Hawthorns and added another in a 5-2 rout of Norwich at Carrow Road. He'd shown a knack of arriving late in the box, which was a trait that had been lacking in our midfield for some time.

 

It was looking good for Nuri at this stage, but that was as good as it got for him as he was never able to nail down a regular place and often found games passing him by when he started. He complained of not being used in his correct position, which is as a deep plying playmaker. There is some merit to that, but from Rodgers' point of view how could he select him in that role when our midfield became weak and easy to slice through when he was deployed there?

 

Sahin's pedigree and quality was never in question, but his suitability to the English game and to Rodgers' system certain were. His lastappearance for the club came in a Europa League clash in Udinese, when he was forced off with a broken nose after just 12 minutes.

 

That sidelined him for a couple of weeks and he was never able to re-establish himself in the side and when the transfer window opened inJanuary, his loan was cut short by mutual consent and Madrid sent him back to Dortmund on an 18 month loan where he would see more playing time than had he remained at Anfield.

 

 

Date of Birth: 05/09/88

Nationality: Turkish

Postition: Midfield

Games: 12

Goals: 3

ClubHons (Lpool):

Int Hons:  Turkish caps

Other Clubs: Borussia Dortmund, Feyenoord (loan), Real Madrid, Borussia Dortmund (loan)

sahin_nuri_profile.jpg
Nuri SAHIN 2012-13

 

 

 

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Guest Numero Veinticinco

Haven't been following him.

How's he going back at Dortmund?

Yeah, he's doing well. He's back starting every game, and has been doing pretty much that since he got back to Germany. He's fucking ace. Surprising, though, he's not playing as a number 10. I'm gutted it didn't work out for him here, because he's one of the best young holding playmakers around.

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He's a first-team regular there and is deployed in a more deep-lying position than he was here. I thought we'd done extremely well to get him, but it didn't work out. Partly because he was usually deployed further forward than he was used to and didn't see as much of the ball as he would have liked, and partly because his appearances became sporadic and he was never able to build any momentum.

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Guest Numero Veinticinco

No idea. I doubt he'd have come if he'd have known he'd be chasing down the oppositions fullback all game rather than control the game. Maybe Rodgers idea was to get him some fitness, then switch him back, but it backfired.

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Guest Numero Veinticinco

Why do you say that? He wasn't very fast at doing running

He is plenty fast enough for the equally quick and vigorous German league. His speed, after barely playing for a year, had nothing to do with his time here.

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I thought he was slow and visibly slow many times when he played for us. He also didn't like to tackle very much

 

And you are right to think that because that was the case with him, forget the bellwafts that say he was 'ace' and all that type of bollocks, Sahin was a massive shithouse.

 

He blatently wasn't up for the fight, Rodgers rightfully sees fight/mental toughness as an requirement for players here and clearly none of that was visable in Sahin so he jibbed him off, good riddance and well done Rodgers.

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Guest Numero Veinticinco

Load of bollocks like a lot of what you spout.

Who are you? Other than somebody who doesn't watch German football, that is. The relative speed of the premiership is a myth perpetuated by sky generation idiots who have never watched a game outside England.

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Brendan had both a new £15m signing and dropped Gerrard deep into Sahin's position, due to it not really working out with Gerrard playing further forward.

 

The loanee never stood a chance.  Unfortunately it doesn't even take hindsight to know who we'd been better spending £15m on.

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