After an underwhelming season which was plagued by injuries, Liverpool fans are starting to question Borini’s future at the club. Infact, just 22.6% of you would be able to resist a £10 million bid if Lazio came calling. So should we sell Borini if we had the opportunity?
Is Borini that bad that we sell him just a season after buying him? Personally I think such extremities should be reserved for ‘Assaidi-type’ players. But, as fans, we should analyse his performances in a Liverpool shirt before deciding whether it would be best if Liverpool offloaded him for the same amount of money they bought him for.
He signed for Liverpool on the 9th of July 2012 from Roma for a reported fee of €11.3 million (roughly £10.5 million), just a year after moving from Parma in a loan deal with an option to buy. Already his price tag was raising questions. £10million for a player who had only ever scored 16 senior goals in just 46 senior appearances seemed overpriced to say the least. But fans were patient and waited to see how their new striker developed in Anfield red.
Borini started his career in a Liverpool shirt better than a lot of new strikers, scoring on his home debut against Gomel in a 3-0 win. The finish wasn’t a simple tap in either. He drilled a powerful shot into the back of the net past four Gomel players after a classic Luis Suarez dribble up the by-line. A dream start for the 21 year old. But would it last?
Borini only took part in 5 Barclays Premier League matches (no goals or assists) in 2012 due to a broken foot, initially suffered in the 2-1 loss at the hands of Manchester United in September, which took the young Italian out for 3 months. Fabio was back in January but was straight back to the doctor’s room in February after 8 minutes from coming on for Luis Suarez against Swansea. This time Borini had a dislocated shoulder and from Rodgers comments after the match, it looked like that would be the last we saw of him for the rest of the season.
But after a quick recovery, Borini was back by April, he made an immediate impact to an already decided match at Newcastle, adding the fifth. The finish this time was not as powerful but was very precise and Borini’s footwork to set himself up also impressed. In the match against Fulham he also shone with a powerful long drive that bounded of Mark Schwarzer’s left post just minutes after coming on. Were fans too quick to judge him?
In the summer Borini also took part in the U21 European Championships which were held in Israel. Once again Borini seemed to strive to prove the doubters wrong after a somewhat disappointing season. He played 3 out of the 5 total matches for Italy, who were runners up to Spain, and scored the winner in the semi-finals against The Netherlands. In the final he also scored a consolation with a long range effort that beat Manchester United’s David De Gea. After these impressive performances, Borini was even named in the squad of the tournament. A dream start and a nearly dream end to the season for Fabio.
But this erratic form begs the question: Should we sell him? I think that I’m going to have to disagree with the majority of voters and say no. Although, yes, he hasn’t been what most fans would have expected from a £10million centre forward, I still believe we haven’t seen the best of him. We have seen flashes, however, and his determination to succeed shows he could still be a successful player at Liverpool. Remember that he’s still only 22 and he’s constantly improving and developing. But I think that this coming season is a huge one for him. If he doesn’t shine during this campaign, I can see Rodgers losing patience with him and selling him. Whether it’s less than £10million to a foreign club like Lazio doesn’t matter. What matters is keeping him if he turns out to be quality player in the future. The chances of that happening? That’s up to you to decide.
He signed for Liverpool on the 9th of July 2012 from Roma for a reported fee of €11.3 million (roughly £10.5 million), just a year after moving from Parma in a loan deal with an option to buy. Already his price tag was raising questions. £10million for a player who had only ever scored 16 senior goals in just 46 senior appearances seemed overpriced to say the least. But fans were patient and waited to see how their new striker developed in Anfield red.
Borini started his career in a Liverpool shirt better than a lot of new strikers, scoring on his home debut against Gomel in a 3-0 win. The finish wasn’t a simple tap in either. He drilled a powerful shot into the back of the net past four Gomel players after a classic Luis Suarez dribble up the by-line. A dream start for the 21 year old. But would it last?
Borini only took part in 5 Barclays Premier League matches (no goals or assists) in 2012 due to a broken foot, initially suffered in the 2-1 loss at the hands of Manchester United in September, which took the young Italian out for 3 months. Fabio was back in January but was straight back to the doctor’s room in February after 8 minutes from coming on for Luis Suarez against Swansea. This time Borini had a dislocated shoulder and from Rodgers comments after the match, it looked like that would be the last we saw of him for the rest of the season.
But after a quick recovery, Borini was back by April, he made an immediate impact to an already decided match at Newcastle, adding the fifth. The finish this time was not as powerful but was very precise and Borini’s footwork to set himself up also impressed. In the match against Fulham he also shone with a powerful long drive that bounded of Mark Schwarzer’s left post just minutes after coming on. Were fans too quick to judge him?
In the summer Borini also took part in the U21 European Championships which were held in Israel. Once again Borini seemed to strive to prove the doubters wrong after a somewhat disappointing season. He played 3 out of the 5 total matches for Italy, who were runners up to Spain, and scored the winner in the semi-finals against The Netherlands. In the final he also scored a consolation with a long range effort that beat Manchester United’s David De Gea. After these impressive performances, Borini was even named in the squad of the tournament. A dream start and a nearly dream end to the season for Fabio.
But this erratic form begs the question: Should we sell him? I think that I’m going to have to disagree with the majority of voters and say no. Although, yes, he hasn’t been what most fans would have expected from a £10million centre forward, I still believe we haven’t seen the best of him. We have seen flashes, however, and his determination to succeed shows he could still be a successful player at Liverpool. Remember that he’s still only 22 and he’s constantly improving and developing. But I think that this coming season is a huge one for him. If he doesn’t shine during this campaign, I can see Rodgers losing patience with him and selling him. Whether it’s less than £10million to a foreign club like Lazio doesn’t matter. What matters is keeping him if he turns out to be quality player in the future. The chances of that happening? That’s up to you to decide.