We’ve been linked with Harry Kewell before – mainly at the end of his Liverpool career – but the timing of and the significance attached to this rumour surprises me somewhat.
It is certainly true that we need to add a natural left winger/left midfielder to our squad. Diomansy Kamara is probably the only member of our first-team squad who would be completely at home out there but Roy Hodgson has indicated before that Kamara considers himself a striker. I’ve got to say again that the main reason for Simon Davies’ slump in form was that he sacrificed part of his own game to line up on the left once it became clear that we weren’t going to get the best out of Zoltan Gera out there.
But Kewell? I wondered whether his time in the helter-skelter world of the Premier League had passed when he left Anfield. With his age and injury record, he wouldn’t be the safest bet in the world. Mind you, Roy’s got the best of players someone like Danny Murphy, who increasingly seems evergreen in central midfield, despite being older than Kewell.
The article does point out that Kewell would be available for a fairly affordable fee as he only has a year left on his contract at Galatasaray. What they don’t mention is that the Australian will probably command a hefty weekly wage. Again, we’ll have to wait and see whether this is just paper talk.
He has been playing very well for Australia and scoring goals in Turkey. Can play out wide on the wing or up front.
The only thing that might get him to move to the Cottage is his wife Sheree – as one of the original WAGS she might be pushing to live in London!!