Jermaine Pennant’s Anfield future is in doubt
Nov 14 2008 by Ian Doyle, Liverpool Daily Post
JERMAINE PENNANT’S Liverpool future is under fresh doubt after the winger was left out of the Carling Cup defeat to Tottenham Hotspur.
But the Anfield outfit run the risk of the winger walking away for nothing at the end of the season if they fail to offload him during the January transfer window.
After starting Liverpool’s previous two home Premier League games, Pennant failed to make the squad for the weekend Anfield win against West Bromwich Albion and was again absent from the 18-man party on Wednesday.
It is believed the absence at White Hart Lane of Pennant, who appeared in the win over Crewe Alexandra in the previous round, was due to disciplinary reasons.
Pennant was told by Rafael Benitez earlier this season that he would not be frozen out despite Liverpool actively seeking to sell the player during the summer.
The winger turned down the chance of a £5million move to Stoke City and came close to joining Blackburn Rovers on transfer deadline day.
Recent events are likely to accelerate Pennant’s departure, with Wigan Athletic tracking the player along with Bolton Wanderers, who were yesterday linked with a possible £3.5m bid in the New Year.
However, the situation is complicated by the contract Pennant agreed when signing from Birmingham City for £6.7m in July 2006.
That deal will expire in the summer unless Pennant plays a specified number of games this season. Should he reach that target – thought to be around 15 – it will automatically invoke a one-year contract extension.
But if Pennant, who has played only four times so far this campaign, falls short of the required total of appearances – the likelihood of which has increased with Liverpool’s Carling Cup exit – then he would walk away for nothing in June.
Meanwhile, Daniel Agger admits Benitez’s side will win nothing this season if they don’t improve on their woeful showing at Tottenham.
Liverpool conceded three goals in seven minutes before half-time before eventually slumping to a 4-2 defeat.
And Agger, the only survivor at White Hart Lane from the team that started the 3-0 win against West Brom five days earlier, reckons the Anfield outfit must banish the game from their memory banks ahead of tomorrow’s tricky trip to Bolton Wanderers.
“If you see the goals it was the same problem every time and they speak for themselves,” said the Denmark international. “We conceded four bad goals and you cannot expect to do that and still get anything out of a game.
“We improved in the second half but we knew it could only go one way as we couldn’t play as badly as we did in the first half.
“Right now it’s difficult to take any positives at all. That just wasn’t good enough. We have to do better than this otherwise we won’t achieve anything this season.
“The mood wasn’t the best in the squad after the game but we have to put this behind us quickly. Bolton are a strong, physical team and it’s another difficult game for us. We can’t perform like this on Saturday because if we do then we will lose.”
Agger refused to entertain the notion that the Carling Cup was a mere distraction for Liverpool, given their progress in the Premier League and Champions League this season.
“For some players this is a very important competition,” he said. “We have a big squad and the more games we can have the better it is for us. Not going any further than the fourth round this season is very annoying.”
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