Martin Skrtel Is At A Crossroad

A year can be a hell of a long time in football. Just ask Martin Skrtel. From mainstay to makeweight, and all in the space of 12 months. Skrtel’s Anfield future, like several others, is up for debate this summer.

The central defender is tied into a lucrative, long-term contract with the Reds, but the suggestions from inside the club are that reasonable offers will be considered. Napoli, managed by Rafael Benitez, has been linked.

It is all a far cry from this time last year. Then, Liverpool were having to convince Skrtel they could match his ambitions, as well as his financial demands. They, not the player, were the ones fighting. He was the one holding the cards.

Perhaps understandably. The Slovakian had, after all, just been named as the Reds’ Player of the Season. He was a constant, a reliable presence.

Manchester City was interested. They sniffed, they probed, they whispered in his agent’s ear, and they tested Liverpool’s resolve with a formal bid, understood to be around £12m.

Liverpool, swiftly, rejected it. Brendan Rodgers, newly appointed, was desperate to retain his key players. Skrtel, together with Luis Suarez and Daniel Agger, was certainly one. There was, generally, a sense of relief at Anfield when a new contract was agreed in August.

Maybe that took his eye off the ball. Because since then his stock has fallen. And fast.

Sluggishness in possession, a nervousness when faced with imposing, physical forwards, and, perhaps more alarmingly, an apparent lack of genuine leadership qualities, all contributed to his demotion from the Reds team back in January.

Skrtel – along with Sebastian Coates, another who is fighting for his Anfield future right now – was bullied by Oldham Athletic’s Matt Smith as Liverpool were dumped out of the FA Cup. A senior international defender given the runaround by a reserve League One striker. It proved a pivotal moment.

Three days later, Liverpool went to Arsenal. Jamie Carragher started, and Skrtel was benched. He has started just three games since.

And with Rodgers making no secret of his desire to bring in “at least two” central defenders this summer, the feeling is that, at 28, Skrtel’s number is up at Anfield.

Kolo Toure has been signed, and Rodgers was desperate to bring Kyriakos Papadopoulos, the highly-rated 21-year-old, too.

Liverpool’s refusal to compromise with Schalke over their asking price could offer Skrtel the chance of an Anfield revival.

Having been scared of losing him a year ago, Liverpool may now regret that they didn’t cash in on him when they had the chance. Because Manchester City is unlikely to come back for him now.

What a difference a year makes.