In the player thread but I think relevant here also.
Neil Jones: Pepe Reina's final departure leaves a bitter taste at Liverpool FCPepe Reina has played more games for Liverpool than Ray Kennedy. And Alan Kennedy, for that matter.
He has played more games than Graeme Souness. And Robbie Fowler, Ronnie Moran, Gordon Hodgson, Kevin Keegan, Terry McDermott.
In fact, in the history of Liverpool, only 26 men have made more appearances than Pepe Reina. Only three have more Premier League appearances. All three of them are Reds legends.
All of which makes it even sadder that the Spaniard’s departure from Anfield, after nine years, has been so acrimonious.
Should his move to Bayern Munich, as expected, be completed later this week, Reina will leave Merseyside under a cloud, his exit greeted with, if not quite indifference, certainly something close. There will be few tears shed amongst Reds supporters.
Reina’s final days at Anfield have been spent in what can be best described as footballing purgatory. He has been the ghost at the table on Liverpool’s whistle-stop tour of the USA.
During that tour, Brendan Rodgers shared goalkeeping duties between Simon Mignolet, his first-choice, and Brad Jones. Danny Ward, a 21-year-old who is yet to make his senior debut for the Reds, has been on the substitutes’ bench.
Reina, meanwhile, has been left to look on. He has trained as normal, prepared as normal and, judging by some of the Instagram pictures, joined in with the squad as normal. But no playing time. Not one minute.
How did it come to this?
The breakdown in Reina’s relationship with the club, and more specifically with Rodgers, can be traced back to the summer of 2012.
Rodgers’ arrival at Anfield came at a difficult time. Liverpool’s squad, which had been assembled at some cost, was imbalanced and in need of a serious trim.
Quality, reliable senior players were in short supply.
Reina, despite a poor season under Kenny Dalglish, was deemed one of those players. Rodgers admired his distribution skills and ability to command his box. His dressing room presence, he was told, was huge.The trouble was, noises were emerging that he was looking to leave. Every summer, every winter, links with Barcelona would appear, and Reina would do little to bat them away.Interest from Camp Nou, he said, would be “hard to ignore”, but until then he was fully committed to Liverpool.
Not ideal. And so, privately, Rodgers began making contingency plans.At first, he identified Michel Vorm, his goalkeeper at Swansea, as a replacement. Later, though, Mignolet would catch the eye. And as Reina’s form, although better than the previous season, failed to convince, the decision was taken in early 2013 that a new senior ‘keeper would be signed.
Rodgers says he informed Reina over dinner that he intended to sign Mignolet, and said the idea was to have the two compete for a place in his side.
Realistically, though, that was never likely. Reina’s contract at Anfield, signed in April 2010, made him one of the club’s highest earners. The prospect of him sitting on the bench, waiting for a League Cup tie or an injury to Mignolet, was absurd.
Unfortunately, both for Reina and for Liverpool, Victor Valdes’ decision to see out the final year of his contract at Barcelona meant their ‘interest’ was never followed up. Reina was left in limbo, with Liverpool eventually agreeing to loan him out to Napoli, where he would link up with former boss Rafa Benitez.
It was then that Reina, in a move which did little to repair his relationship with Rodgers, published a “goodbye” letter to Reds supporters on his personal website.
In it, he accused Liverpool of agreeing to loan him out without telling him, and insisted he had been willing to stay and fight for his place once Barcelona’s interest had waned. “If I have one regret, it is the way that I am leaving,” he said.
In all honesty, his Liverpool career was already over at that point,
but it was telling that, when asked in February about the prospect of a Reina return, Rodgers used that letter to publicly kill off any hopes.
“He’s already written his letter hasn’t he?” he told reporters. In short; no way back.And so it has proven. Reina’s season in Naples was solid enough, but his dream move to Barca never materialised. The Catalans have moved on; they signed two ‘keepers, Marc-Andre Ter Stegen and Claudio Bravo, this summer.
Liverpool, too, have moved on. Mignolet had what can accurately be described as a “mixed” debut campaign at Anfield, but he retains, for now, the backing of his manager. Reina, once indispensable, lost that backing some time ago.
There are some who would argue that Reina, at his best, is still the better goalkeeper. That his departure is down more to politics than football.
Both may be true, but the proof is always in the pudding. Liverpool, without Reina and with Mignolet, went agonisingly close to a Premier League title last season. He may be a popular character, but he wasn’t missed.
This move would seem to suit all parties. Liverpool get a big earner off the books, whilst pocketing a modest transfer fee.
Bayern get an experienced, quality goalkeeper to compete with the brilliant Manuel Neuer. And Reina gets the chance to work at another big club, under the guidance of the revered Pep Guardiola.
A happy ending? Not quite. But a necessary one, nonetheless. It’s just a shame his departure does not leave a better taste.
http://www.liverpoolecho.co.uk/sport/football/football-news/neil-jones-pepe-reinas-final-7573478 It's not all just black/white it's not all about the club/manager saving money and giving the boot just for shits and grins.
Pepe was committed to LFC right up to the point where Barca was ready for him, as a new manager trying to lay down the law and expect younger players coming in to commit 100% you can't have players being 1/2 committed.
