Not everyone fully appreciates what he brings to the team. He's not the flashiest and doesn't score a lot of goals so some people have underrated his value to the team for a long time. Some never really liked him from day one and he was a constant whipping boy for a while. He has been a tireless serving soldier who never even gets a cramp and does a lot of the donkey work that helps the rest of the team to succeed at the expense of personal achievements.
His time looks to be up with us but i understand both sides. He wanting a longer contract as he is 30yo and is probably his last large contract and the team not wanting to commit a long term deal as it has an aging squad and needs to retool the team over the next 2-3 years towards younger players.
He will leave as one of my favorite players in the Klopp era and an absolute legend with his big impact on the big things we achieved while he was here.
I totally agree with almost all of that. Defo a club legend for his major part in what we've achieved in recent years. Massively underappreciated by the fanbase generally, due to this idea that "he doesn't do anything". I read (OK maybe a year ago now) that in matches between the top 6 sides, Gini was the top goalscoring midfielder; yes even ahead of De Bruyne. So he's a big game player, which matches with what I've seen. And we all know what he did against Barcelona. That's club legend status in its own right.
Yes he can be a bit frustrating against the low block, I'll admit, but fans should understand that he's playing to Klopp's tactical instructions. He gives the ball to people who can do more damage with it. He's never been or claimed to be a creative passing midfielder. And the low block didn't actually trouble us for several years until this freak season so I'm not sure why people were arsed before now.
I can't for the life of me remember him making any kind of critical error for us, ever. Yes he plays pretty conservatively so that will help to explain it, but there's a value to be found in players who don't make critical errors on the field of play. I watched the game back the other night and saw Gini had made a mistake and I looked at the clock and it said 76 minutes, and even that was because he was clearly tired from all the running. 76 minutes error-free. That's a lot of concentration.
Love the fella to bits and will be gutted when he goes. I was holding out hope they might eventually come to an agreement but it isn't looking good.
Only thing I don't agree with you on (in part) is that you seem to have swallowed the leaked line from the club about it being Gini's fault for wanting a longer contract. There are two sides to every story and I'd prefer to hear Gini's side of it before passing 'judgment'. Anyway, it's his last big contract, he's got a right to do what's best for his family. He owes us nothing. I wish the lad a long and happy rest of his life.
I do think this is what politicians have been describing in recent years as "a failure of diplomacy" though. Klopp clearly wants him to stay. I'm as sure as I can be that Gini wants to stay (or did do - he does look a bit resigned to going at this point). So there's been a failure of diplomacy or a failure of negotiation there by the looks of it.
Anyway, all LFC heroes leave the club eventually and then a new LFC hero always comes along eventually...
It'd be nice to get this 'postponed' league title open top bus tour sorted to give Gini a proper send-off but I guess that'll never happen now.
Logged