Liverpool FC Forum

by **red37** » Wed May 07, 2008 10:13 am

Well, the inevitability of it comes as little surprise. One or two of the finer details do however...£157k per game for example.

I'll allow you to digest the rest. In any case Harry Kewell is destined to leave Anfield in a cloud of underwhelming non-achievement coupled with an altogether tangible sense of anti-climax. I will say, thanks for the services you have managed to offer...it could have been so much better than this. Good luck Kewell and (i have to say) i doubt you will be sorely missed.

Article:

No new deal for Harry Kewell at Liverpool FC

May 7th 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post

RAFAEL BENITEZ has called time on Harry Kewell’s disappointing Liverpool career.

The Australian will not be offered a new deal at Anfield when his current contract expires at the end of the season.

Such an outcome has been inevitable with Kewell having not figured for Liverpool since the FA Cup defeat to Barnsley in February.

The 29-year-old was signed in a blaze of publicity by then Anfield manager Gerard Houllier for £5million from Leeds United in July 2003.

Kewell scored 11 goals in his first season but, since Benitez assumed charge in 2004, has been dogged by a catalogue of series injuries ranging from serious groin, knee, thigh and ankle problems to septic arthritis in his foot.

Nevertheless, Benitez has been a consistent admirer of the Australian and turned to Kewell for all four of the major finals of his tenure.

Typically, though, Kewell limped off injured in the Carling Cup final in 2005, the Champions League final later that season and the FA Cup final the following year before emerging from the bench in the 2007 Champions League final despite having previously played only 46 minutes that season.

The Australian, who is unlikely to be given the chance of a swansong at Tottenham Hotspur on Sunday, has made 138 appearances and scored 16 goals in his five years at Anfield.

And when wages and his transfer fee are taken into consideration, Kewell has cost Liverpool an estimated £157,000 per game.

Kewell has been determined to stay at Anfield but is thought to have already lined up a possible move elsewhere, with Juventus among a clutch of potential suitors.

by **puroresu** » Wed May 07, 2008 10:16 am

About time. Kewell has to be the biggest waste of space in the game.

by **andy_g** » Wed May 07, 2008 10:17 am

inevitable really but it makes me a little sad. without his terrible injury problems he could have been one of our greatest ever signings. i wonder how and where he's going to carry on his career - i can't even see the traditional signers of over the hill campaigners like bolton and portsmouth going for him.

by **Number 9** » Wed May 07, 2008 10:22 am

About time,Rafa should have got rid when he became manager!
Biggest waste of time and money ever.

Any team that signs Kewell need their heads looked at in my opinion,but im sure there is someone out there desperate enough to take a chance on him!

by **tubby** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:10 pm

We should have given him a new contract so we can at least sell him for something, like what Arsenal done with Cole. Now he will just walk away for nothing. Good riddance and feck of.

by **account deleted by request** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:29 pm

One of the biggest disappointments of my time supporting Liverpool. Another "missing piece in the jigsaw" that unfortunately through injury and possibly lack of ambition never managed to quite reach the heights expected and which I am sure he was capable of. When we signed him I was "over the moon", finally we had a player that would feed Owen and Heskey the crosses that would fire us to the title.

I still believe he could do a better job than some of the players that are getting regular games for us, but with injury seeming to hit every time he gets the chance to play we will never really know. A top quality player let down by injury and maybe a lack of desire?

I would still have liked Rafa to offer him a pay as you play contract, but realistically I don't think it would have worked out if he had. Like Collymore an if only player.

by **jonnymac1979** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:45 pm

A bit mixed here.

I'm not saying for one second that the five years he has spent here are nothing less than a disappointment. To say he has been completely unsuccessful is forgetting the performances he gave in the 2005-06 season when we won the FA Cup. He looked fully fit for the latter part of that season and completely dominated the opposing full backs when he looked confident. That was the Harry Kewell we had paid for and wanted to see every week.

To see how he has performed since then tells the story that he has either been the worst kind of lazy mercenary footballer you can get, or injuries really have killed off a once promising career of a very talented footballer.

Good luck whatever happens Harry, you had the potential to have been remembered as a Liverpool legend but it wasn't to be.

by **metalhead** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:52 pm

gifted player, unfortunatly his injuries just slowed him down.

Im with JM, 2005-06 he looked fantastic.

Best of Luck Kewell

by **SouthCoastShankly** » Wed May 07, 2008 12:59 pm

by **Big Niall** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:19 pm

f*ck off Harry :angry:

by **redsince2001** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:34 pm

THANK YOU GOD !!!!!!!!!!

by **woof woof !** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:39 pm

Would have felt more sympathy for him if he'd shown as much desire to play for LFC as he did for Australia. Sure he did have his injuries but he never seemed slow to get on the plane for the Aussie's . Glad he's finally been told to sling his hook.

by **Roger Red Hat** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:45 pm

look out for him in a newcastle shirt next season then.

by **The Manhattan Project** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:49 pm

Bye Harry

Shame it didn't work out.

by **account deleted by request** » Wed May 07, 2008 1:56 pm

woof woof ! wrote:Would have felt more sympathy for him if he'd shown as much desire to play for LFC as he did for Australia. Sure he did have his injuries but he never seemed slow to get on the plane for the Aussie's . Glad he's finally been told to sling his hook.

I think that more than anything has cost Kewell much of the sympathy that normally comes with injuries.

Liverpool FC Forum

Kewell out this summer - No contract renewal

Who is online