...Philip Degen, on a free transfer, the first of "four or five" signings expected this summer as the future of Rafa Benitez looks more secure following meetings with Tom Hicks and his son at Melwood before and after the Chelsea game.
What we know of Degen is that he is a 25-year-old right full back who has been playing at Borussia Dortmund for the last three years. He previously played for FC Basle, our old Champions League foes, and was part of Switzerland's 2006 World Cup squad making him...Swiss, obviously.
He is said to be attack minded, good at getting up and down the line and all those cliches that usually accompany a description of an attacking full back. He can play right wing and has been known to fill in at left back on occasion.
His arrival on July 1st, when his contract expires at Dortmund, casts further doubts over the future of Steve Finnan who has become increasingly marginalised towards the back end of the season.
It's been strange turn of events really. It's not as if he has been playing badly but he has had a few injuries and at 32 just yesterday, Rafa must feel it's time to freshen that position up.
It's been the Irishman's position for all of the boss' four year tenure and rightly so. He's been a consistently excellent performer but we must move forward. It will be interesting to see if Finnan is retained in the summer as back up or else moved elsewhere. It will be sad to see him go if he does leave.
Meanwhile Fabio Aurelio's season is effectively over after he was ruled out for three weeks with a torn adductor muscle that saw him stretchered off against Chelsea on Tuesday. Sad for the Brazilian who always seems to get injured whenever he finds a bit of form. It means John Arne Riise is likely to play at Chelsea next week in a bid to make amends.
He may play at Birmingham on Saturday but Emiliano Insua could also come into contention with wholesale changes likely to be made in a bid to keep the side fresh for Stamford Bridge.
No comments:
Post a Comment