The Emre Can Contract Saga Needs An Ending

The Liverpool midfielder is hedging his bets, unwilling to commit his future before this season ends.

Your grandchildren will never speak of the Emre Can contract saga. It won’t feature in Sadio Mané’s post-career tell-all book. It won’t rival Steven Gerrard’s trip to Chelsea, his legendary status at Liverpool hanging in the balance. It’s a blip that the club will move on from quickly regardless of the outcome of the negotiations.

Can fills a role at Liverpool that he has both excelled and failed in. He’s effective and unsuccessful on the pitch in often equal measure. The German midfielder has been a vital cog in the Jürgen Klopp machine but the reality is that Emre Can hasn’t contributed heavily going forward and isn’t defensively-minded enough to protect the team going backward. He’s good. And he’s been great here and there. But the last thing the club will do is throw a bunch of money at the player.

As Juventus continue to hover over these contract talks between Can and Liverpool, it’s looked increasingly likely that Emre will move on at the end of the season, unable to raise his wages or secure the insertion of a release clause in his contract or whatever very businessy things are happening. But I’ve also got a suspicion that Can is waiting on Liverpool’s official inclusion into the Champions League for next season before he commits his future. So, I expect this saga to roll on until the race for top four concludes.

“Where the situation is at, at the moment? Open,” said Klopp.

“That’s what we have said before, as long as nothing is decided, it’s open.

“We are in talks with him and it’s all good so far, apart from him signing a contract for us, that’s all.

“No problem with that.”

It’s appears that Klopp would like to keep Can in his team. But I get the impression that the manager is aligned with the Liverpool board in their stance over Can’s future at the club. Mohamed Salah will see his terms improved after the season he’s had. The club will shower the Egyptian with money. But Emre Can will not get the same special treatment. His contributions are vast and worthy of respect but, you know, your grandchildren are going to be too busy hover-scrolling through Roberto Firmino’s holographic highlight reels.

Source: liverpooloffside.sbnation.com