As it looks like Rafa Benitez will finally get his man and end the long drawn out transfer saga, Gareth Barry`s arrival will at last turn Liverpool into credible title contenders.
In order to capture Barry`s signiture Benitez has had to be at his most ruthless. Xabi Alonso will have to make way for Barry, he will have to be sold to recoup the money spent on his replacement. It looks like Alonso does not want to go but it would seem it is more to do with the fact that no high profile club have valued him as highly as the Anfield clubs price tag, than the desire the player has to stay and fight for his place. Perhaps these clubs are relishing what many Liverpool supporters have known for a while now, that Alonso is simply overrated. While many supporters still rate him, in my opinion he has not produced the goods for a season or two now, and when he does play Liverpool are not a better team and for those fans who still rate him do you really see him as an integral part of the Liverpool team that will finally bring the the league title back to Liverpool. Even though Benitez will not relish selling his Spanish compatriot, after all it was Benitez who convinced Alonso to join his Liverpool revolution right from the start and now for the good of the team Benitez will make the decision to end Alonso`s Anfield career whether the player himself wants it or not.
Steven Gerrard and Barry may be great mates off the field and there is little doubt that their friendship played a part in Barry holding out for a chance to join Liverpool instead of other possible suitors. But Barry`s arrival at Anfield may mean that Gerrard may have to return to the right side of midfield something that he may not be too happy about after getting a taste of his preferred role playing behind Torres in the centre. It would be one of the most talented midfields in the world if Rafa opted something along the lines of Ryan Babel on the left Barry and Mascherano in the centre and Gerrard on the right and i think that in a lot of the big games he may opt for something like this, but i do not think that Gerrard will be saying goodbye to central midfield for good.
Benitez`s signings this summer could be a viewed as a masterstroke in years to come. In signing Robbie Keane and Barry, Benitez has not just signed a striker and a central midfielder he has bought himself a huge amount of options in shuffling his playing pack around. Keane will normally play behind Torres but when the Spanish striker is rested, Keane can play up front with Gerrard behind him or Keane on the right when Gerrard is needed elsewhere. With Barry he will mainly play in central midfield but he can easily fill in on the left where Gerrard has had to do on a number of occasions and showed that out left is one position that the Liverpool skipper cannot really play and his talent was wasted there so hopefully Barry`s arrival puts an end to that madness.
People may say that Benitez has always had plenty of options in team selection and the amount of rotation he has done proves them right, but the difference now is that he can exchange top quality players for top quality, but also in the big games injuries permitting he can field the strongest starting eleven that Liverpool Football Club have had in many many years.
All the top teams will of course be strengthening this summer and of the top four Liverpool had the most ground to make up, but when Barry finally signs, Benitez will have got all his summer wishes granted and i believe he will have taken Liverpool a huge step forward and maybe just maybe he has done enough to finally end the title drought on Merseyside.
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