Another injury for England, another obvious replacement not wanting to be on standby in case he was needed by his country, another Liverpool player drafted in. Congratulations to Martin Kelly on his call up to the England squad for Euro 2012, he has plenty of quality and potential and this experience will help him no end in improving as a top level player. To be honest I think he is going as third choice right back behind Johnson and Jones, and fifth choice centre back behind Terry, Lescott, Jagielka and Jones so his chances of actually playing are similar to those of Jordan Henderson but the fact that he is there will boost his confidence and training with senior England players day in day out will aid his development as a footballer. I think the situation is win-win for the player and for Liverpool.
There already seems to be a bit of a backlash against Roy Hodgson's decision to bring in Kelly but unlike Henderson's call up, nobody is saying Kelly isn't up to it, they're just saying Micah Richards or Rio Ferdinand would be a better candidate. Richards decided himself to turn down the opportunity to be on the standby list so he has only himself to blame for not going. After finding himself out of the Man City team for the final few games of the season you would have expected him to be itching to play again and prove what he could do but I guess he just doesn't have that kind of attitude and maybe we now know why Mancini didn't pick him at the business end of the season. For the first time in my life I actually have some sympathy with Rio Ferdinand, the only reason he could have been overlooked has nothing to do with football and is a situation entirely not of his making so in my opinion he really should have gone once Gary Cahill was ruled out.
Six Liverpool players in the England squad has led to calls of favouritism but I fail to see why Hodgson would favour a club who sacked him after only six months in charge. More than anything I think it vindicates FSG's plan of recruiting promising English players and maybe as this group continues to play together and grow together the fortunes of England and of Liverpool will improve side by side. There aren't many Premier League sides with six players eligible for England so there should be no surprise Liverpool are the most represented club in the squad.
Also today Liverpool have announced that Dirk Kuyt has agreed to join Fenerbache. Dirk is 31 years old and has penned a three year deal so I think it's certainly a good move for him, they are a big club with passionate fans and I'm sure he will enjoy Istanbul the way so many Reds have done before him. In his six seasons at Anfield you can probably count on the fingers of one hand how many games Kuyt has missed through injury or suspension, his attitude and fitness are second to none. When you watch Dirk Kuyt on the football field you see a man who simply doesn't stop running, I've always had a vision of him at the final whistle of the last game of the season just stopping, lying down on the pitch for three months resting and then standing up again in August and starting all over.
Dirk the Turk as I will now call him has been involved in some very important moments for Liverpool, he has scored in two finals for the club, countless Merseyside derbies and been responsible for our last two victories over Man Utd. His last season at Liverpool wasn't his best, he was in and out of the team and when he played he struggled to find the net but he certainly wasn't our only player to have this problem, he was one of three(!) Liverpool players to manage to miss TWO penalties last season along with Adam and Suarez. Despite the lack of goals in his final season I think he will be remembered fondly by Liverpool fans as a man who scored important goals in big games and who never ever stopped running for the team. The fans loved him and he loved them and everybody connected with Liverpool will wish him every success in his new adventure, and hopefully he will be back at Anfield for a Champions League tie sooner rather than later.
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