Liverpool star Pepe Reina has told the Daily Mail that his Liverpool career is over. Reina was sent out on loan to Italian side Napoli in the summer and according to Reina, he does not see himself returning to Liverpool after his loan spell even though he still has three years left on his Anfield deal.
When asked if he would return to Liverpool after his loan spell, The Spanish international simply said, “No”. Pepe went on to say, “At the moment it’s difficult to think about being a Liverpool player next year. They have a young goalkeeper in Simon Mignolet and the manager prefers him to me.
“That’s the reason why I’m here and he will be at the club next year as well. There’s no reason to think I’ll be a Liverpool player from now on but we’ll see where the future takes us. It’s been a good move so far and I don’t regret what happened. I would have preferred to say goodbye in a different way.”
Mignolet has hardly put a foot wrong so far this season and has come out with some brilliant saves to keep us in the games. Where Mignolet needs to improve, and where Reina was brilliant, is his ball distribution and playing with the ball at his feet. If Mignolet can get these parts of his game correct then we will hardly miss Reina.
Reina had become a huge part of the Liverpool squad over the years especially with his leadership qualities with some saying he would have been the next Liverpool captain after Gerrard, but now it seems that will never happen as he does not plan to return to the club. Pepe goes on to say that he was surprised at the way he was let go by Liverpool. “It did come as a surprise,” said Reina. “It was the club [Liverpool] who made the move. I was on my holidays and nobody told me anything. Suddenly Napoli called and said they were agreeing terms with Liverpool and Liverpool just rang me two days later and said the same. They probably had their own reasons.”
Well the reasons for Liverpool sending Reina out on loan are quite clear, Reina’s form had dipped and Rodgers found it fitting to bring in a new younger goalkeeper. Reina’s eyes had also been turned by news that Victor Valdes would be leaving Barcelona and Reina would be a possible replacement, so Rodgers did the right thing by getting Mignolet in now rather than waiting for when Pepe decided to join Barcelona. And finally, Liverpool could simply not afford to pay Reina’s high wages whilst he sat on the bench and played second fiddle to Mignolet so a loan move made sense so we get him off our wage bill.
As Reina states, he would have loved to say goodbye to Liverpool in another way, he deserves that much after all the great years of service he gave us. But for now we simply have to say goodbye Pepe and wish him well in his future as we will never see him play in front of the Kop again.
