Jonjo Shelvey to Liverpool: Views of a Charlton season ticket holder
In April 2010, Liverpool won the race to sign Charlton Athletic’s highly-rated teenage midfielder Jonjo Shelvey for an initial £1.7 million fee. Charlton season ticket holder J.D. North watched the young starlet rise through the ranks at The Valley. Here he offers Just Football his thoughts on Shelvey the player, comparisons to Steven Gerrard, and the time he met the youngster in KFC!
“At Charlton we have debts in the region of £20 million. Money is a big concern. The sale to Liverpool at that price seems like contingency planning and sends out an awful message to the fans.
Jonjo Shelvey has got that bit of cocky flamboyance. Occasionally it can be a hindrance, but its often also very effective. Shelvey has a no fear attitude and I think he has the type of cockiness that he will take with him into the Premier League too. He’s not the type of player who would be intimidated or overawed on the big stage.”
As good as the hype?
“He was definitely in the top 3 Charlton players up until the New Year. Then he mysteriously went AWOL and stopped playing games in February and March. No-one knew why he’d been dropped, but he was only playing a game here and a game there, and he was pretty woeful to be honest.
He clearly possesses a lot of energy and puts a great deal of effort into his game. But in the latter stages of his career at Charlton he turned into a player who almost seemed to stop caring. His workrate at the start of the season was staunch; we were playing a 4-5-1 and he played behind the striker admirably.
I don’t think he’s as effective an out-and-out central midfielder because in the modern game, especially at the top level, you need to be versatile enough to take part in the defensive and attacking side of the game. He has the flair and that dash of arrogance, but I’m not sure how much he’s going to get stuck into tackling and other defensive duties.
Personally, I think his drop-off in form was down to things going on behind the scenes. Liverpool were probably after Shelvey in a serious way since around February.
What frustrates me is that obviously bigger clubs can manipulate our debt situation to make cheaper offers than the player’s value, and that’s certainly the case here as Shelvey is a far better player than the reported transfer fee. Realistically, in the current climate we should have got at least £4 million for him.
He made his debut at 16 for us and became Charlton’s youngest ever player and youngest ever goalscorer. He is also an England U-18 international and was England U-16 captain. He’s been headhunted by Premier League clubs since he started playing, and we rejected several offers before buckling for £1.7 million.”
Can he make it in the Premier League?
“It depends on his nurturing. With the right nurturing, he could definitely make it in the Premier League. I’d be tempted to say, given his technical abilities and seemingly unwavering self-confidence, he could even become a regular England international.”
Time you met in KFC
“On the motorway back from Leeds v Charlton. We were at the service station and there was Shelvey queuing up with his Mum or aunt getting a big family bucket! To be fair, he had a blinding game that day so he probably deserved it.”
On the Shelvey / Gerrard comparisons
“I don’t think he’s the next Steven Gerrard because Gerrard resonates with the fans at Liverpool for all manner of reasons. Gerrard is a Scouser and a Kop hero, which Shelvey obviously isn’t. Skillwise Gerrard is a matchwinner, but looking at how Shelvey will fit in at Anfield, I imagine he would slot into the jigsaw as a competent part of the team, rather than the main man. I don’t think he’s an all-action matchwinner a la Gerrard, more a tricky playmaker.
If you looked at the games at Charlton last season where we were in trouble and needed someone to step up to the plate, I can’t remember too many occasions on which Shelvey pulled out that dazzling piece of magic to win a game.
Overall though, Shelvey’s promise is undoubted and Liverpool have got themselves a probable future England international on the cheap.”
(pic via errecielle on Flickr)
Share This Post!
About guest
This post was written by a guest contributor. Please see their details in the post above. If you'd like to guest post for Just Football check out the 'Come Join Us!' link at the top of the page for details on what we're looking for.
8 Comments
RSS
Subscribe to our RSS Feed
-
23 for 2010 – Brazil: World Cup squad analysis
-
Transfer Talk: Who should Arsenal target this summer?
-
Algeria 0-4 Egypt: Sweet Revenge / How To Lose The Plot Completely
-
The Wilshere Ultimatum: What Jack Wilshere’s exclusion from Under-21 duty says about English football
-
Koscielny Red Card Highlights Inconsistent Refereeing
-
Betting on Africa Cup of Nations 2012 - Team of the Round, Matchday 1
-
barca96 on Generation 2022: Al-Kass Under-17 International Cup - Scouting Report
-
-
Jonathan F on Chasing the Big Leagues - Sassuolo (Serie B)
-
Harvey on Drogba, Ayew, Ba, Cisse and co... African Cup of Nations 2012 - The Squads
Just Football presents…
The attitude of the author in this piece is exactly the reason why England have underperformed for so long at the International stage and will continue to do so.
On one hand he claims that although Shelvey is a promising player he doesnt believe he will be the next Steven Gerrard.
On the other he cant understand how an 18 year who has had only a dozen first team games with Charlton doesnt fetch anymore than a 1.7 million transfer fee.
This is why there is so many young foreigners in the game, managers can bring in foreign players of equal quality much cheaper from abroad.
Why should shelvey have cost the same as Riera a player that up until recently was a fully fledged member of the Spain squad and was sold for 4 million.
Shelvey has potential but for the moment thats all it is.
Shelvey has been a good player for us (Charlton). He has looked confortable on the ball, but he actually went missing from the Charlton side long before February. I doubt that at this stage in his career he is worth much more than the transfer fee.
I do agree that when a player, even a young one, can’t get into a third division side one has to question his value, but to suggest that the author’s attitude can be blamed for the underperfotmance of the nationalside is a little dramatic.
At a push you could argue that this attitude has driven the expectations of our ‘local’ heroes, but not the cause of their relative failure.
The logic of suggestiung that a player is not the next Steven Gerrard and, therefore, can’t be worth more than £1.7m is stupid. If Gerrard was for sale for £4m then fine but as the majority of Liverpool fans would want a lot more than £4m for him is it not fair to say a player can be worth £4m but not be the next Steven Gerrard?
As for bringing in cheaper foreigh players, and, in fact, comparing Shelvey to Riera, when the need for home grown players is introduced Riera would potentially be worthless if he’s not English nor playing in Spain. Shelvey, on the other hand, could be used to pad out the world class foreign players that all Premier League teams have these days.
On the basis that the EPL is the richest league in the world, and will need to have English players in every side that makes English players worth a premium.
I agree with the comment made by the previous poster regarding the over-inflated values of young English players, but i also wanted to say that, having seen a fair bit of Shelvey myself, I think that the Charlton fan who wrote the article is a little misguided as to Shelveys workrate. To me it was never in question. Indeed one of his problems when playing behind the lone striker at Charlton was his propensity to drop into too defensive a position – even in home games he was often seen level with Semedo – the out and out defensive midfielder. I feel that he was underused as a central midfielder at Charlton, with his manager not tactically astute enough to get the best out of him. Whether he’ll hit the heights of Gerrard is anyones guess – as with most footballers he’ll need just as much luck as talent.
Interesting piece.
As it was Rafa Benitez who signed him I’d have been interested to see to what extent Shelvey would have fitted into the Spaniard’s plans. Sadly we’ll never find out now, but with Hodgson arriving and saying he wants to bring a more English core to the team perhaps that works in Shelvey’s favour?
With the signing of Joe Cole I wonder does that push Shelvey now back in the pecking order? I’ve seen him play once or twice but don’t know too much about his best position – I’m guessing in a 4-2-3-1 he’d be one of the 3 either centrally or down the left cutting inside?
He played on the left for Charlton a few times and, indeed, on the right. All be it that was in a midfield 4 I don’t think that is his best position.
He was at his best for us when he had what looked like a free role in the hole in a 4-4-1-1. That would probably mean he’s be beter suited in the middle of that 3, but you will clearly have much better players for that position.
I suspect, despite suggestions from the Shelvey camp/family, that he will be kicking his heels in the reserves and maybe the off League Cup game for a season or two until he has developed, and the youth setup at Anfield has decided on his best position.
Actually on the subject of kicking heels I’m wondering why Shelvey isn’t in the England U-19s squad for the ongoing European Championships? A player of his reputed craft was sorely missed at the tournament, in which England’s juniors replicated the jaded visage of the senior team in South Africa superbly.
I’m a Charlton regular, and having seen Shelvey play a lot, I do rate him, and understand why a club came for him – he has potential to be a great player. One of the massive rumours flying around the club was that his sister got him in some trouble with Parkinson resulting in Shelvey not playing. Having sat behind her in the ground, I can really understand why. On the plus side, Shelvey is a confident footballer and has no fear, which could lead him on the same path as someone like Rooney (not saying that he has the same quality). Also being at Liverpool can’t be too bad unless they start loaning him out.
Roger thanks for your comment. As you mention though, loaning him out seems something quite likely this season – on the evidence of the first few Liverpool games I don’t think he’ll get anywhere near enough first team football to develop this season (unless you argue simply training with an increased calibre of player will improve Shelvey’s game alone).
I guess we’ll soon find out!