Liverpool's Latin Americans

Liverpool’s penchant for Brazilian goalkeepers continued in July 2011 as Alexander Doni arrived on a free transfer from Roma. Doni made fewer appearances than Cavalieri appearing 4 times in the league in 2011/12 after Pepe Reina had been sent off at Newcastle United. 

His good fortune turned to despair as a misplaced back-pass from John Flanagan in a midweek league game at Blackburn saw the Brazilian red carded which ruled him out of a FA Cup semi-final meeting with Everton the following Saturday.

It was rumoured that he had brought his whole family to England in anticipation of appearing in the Wembley showpiece. His final match for Liverpool was at Swansea on the last day of the 2011/12 season. He did not appear in the 2012/13 season and returned to Brazil in January 2013. It later transpired that he had been suffering heart related difficulties and had to retire from the game in the August of the same year.

Sebastian Coates became the second Uruguayan to sign for Liverpool in August 2011, costing the club £4.9m from Nacional. There was some suggestion that he had been bought to keep Luis Suarez company, in a similar way to when Dennis Bergkamp insisted that Wim Jonk was signed when he moved to Inter Milan. 

Nevertheless, Coates arrived with extremely high expectations and many supporters were excited by the signing of their new towering central defender. Like Gabriel Paletta, Coates excelled at U-20 level for his country, winning the young player of the tournament award at that years' Copa America, when Uruguay ended the competition lifting the trophy. 

Again though, he failed to carry on such good form into his new club. Coates only managed to make 24 appearances and just 12 of them came in the league. His finest hour came when he scored an acrobatic scissor kick at Loftus Road in March 2012. Failing to break into the side, he found himself out on loan at Sunderland for the 2014/15 season making 10 appearances in the league. Nonetheless, he made enough of an impact in the final weeks of the season for the Black Cats to secure their Premier League status and to convince manager Dick Advocaat to pay £2m for his permanent services this July.

The next Latin American in the door was Phillipe Coutinho who was signed by Brendan Rodgers in the 2013 January transfer window for just £8.5m. This proved to be Brendan's most productive transfer window to date, also bringing in Daniel Sturridge from Chelsea.

Coutinho who arrived at Inter at the same time as former Red's coach Rafa Benitez only played 11 out of 38 League games that season. The following campaign, however, saw him embark on a loan spell at La Liga side Espanyol, scoring 5 goals in 16 appearances. When Liverpool came knocking, Inter were more than happy to dispense of the young Brazilian's services and probably even thought they had got a decent fee for him. Obviously they were wrong!

He settled in quickly to life on Merseyside, scoring his first goal against Swansea City at Anfield in February 2013. He also showed his passing prowess by laying on a number of fine assists for both Suarez and Sturridge. He was a key component in Liverpool’s failed title bid in 2013/14, scoring some important goals. Most notably in a 3-2 win at Anfield against fellow title rivals Manchester City. Again, Like Luis Suarez the little magician is able to excite the Anfield crowd with some neat tricks, but also possesses the end product to match.

During the 2014/15 season he weighed in with some important strikes and became an even more key figure for Liverpool. Due to the departure of Suarez and the continued absence of Daniel Sturridge, Liverpool relied heavily on Coutinho, not only to carry on providing goals but also to score more of them himself. He did just that, last season was his best goal scoring season to date with eight in all competitions. The highlight being his 30 yard astonishing finish at St Marys against Southampton. With the 2015/2016 season well underway, he is already off the mark again with another outside of the box finish against Stoke on the opening day. Liverpool’s hopes for success this season will largely be dictated again by the brilliant Brazilian. To date he has 103 League and Cup appearances to his name and 17 goals. Liverpool fans will be praying there is a lot more to come from their magical number 10.

Now it's the turn of New signing Roberto Firmino to prove his worth. He certainly has the potential after his successful period in Germany and as a full Brazilian international; there is little reason why he won't excel as a Red. Nevertheless, there is always that danger of players needing time to adapt to the English game and struggle to find top form early on. Let's hope that isn't the case with Roberto and he starts firing off all cylinders very soon.

Ricky Villa and Osvaldo Ardiles were a significant double capture for Tottenham in 1978. Hardman Tommy Smith famously said after inflicting a thunderous tackle on Ardiles during an FA Cup tie between Swansea and Spurs that they "can't expect to come here and play like fancy flickers".
There has certainly been more 'misses' than 'hits' regarding Liverpool’s Latin American imports. Maybe, there is a suggestion that the Liverpool scouting system in that part of the world needs to be rethought. Especially, their strategy when picking out talent directly from South America. Despite this, arguably three of Liverpool's best players since 2005 have been South American; Suarez, Mascherano and Coutinho. However, all three came via other European clubs. Lucas Leiva is the stand alone success who came directly from South America. Nevertheless, the recent signing of Allan Rodriguez de Souza from Brazilian club Internacional suggests that Liverpool haven’t given up quite yet in discovering the next big thing from the Americas.

Written by Declan Sloan - Edited by Carl Clemente ([email protected]). Copyright - LFChistory.net