Jose Enrique Having Medical At Liverpool Over £6 Millon Move From Newcastle Utd

By Matt Holmes / August 11, 2011

Liverpool have agreed a reported £6 million deal with Newcastle United for the transfer of toon left back Jose Enrique. The 25 year old Spaniard is said to be travelling to Merseyside today to under-go a medical in time of lining up against Sunderland on Saturday, the Geordies cashing in on a player who had just one year left on his deal and who had made it known he wasn't interested in signing an extension as he wanted to play Champions League football. Of course Liverpool next season are not in any European action but have shown considerable weight in the transfer market and are seemingly hoping to push for the title under manager Kenny Dagleish, let alone a top four finish next year with over £85 million spent on Andy Carroll, Jordan Henderson, Stewart Downing, Charlie Adam and Jose Enrique this year alone. As a Newcastle United fan, I have to say it's highly disappointing to see one of our most consistent and most important players leave the club after two seasons of football at the highest level. For my money he is one of the top 3 or 4 left backs in the country and at his age, is just about to hit his peak at the right time. But as Newcastle fans know, we saw a change in Enrique's attitude earlier this year and everyone expected him to leave, despite the club continuously putting out the messages that 'they had received no offers for their left back', it was only a matter of time. £6 million seems a particularly poor return on a player who cost £300,000 more than that when Sam Allardyce brought him in as a potentially good player four years ago, rather than the player who is top-class as he is now, but with one year left on his deal, perhaps it's as much as we could realistically hope for. The truth is Newcastle United should have made stronger moves to secure his future earlier but again, this was probably impossible as our resources in the Championship meant we couldn't bring out new deals for our top-earners. As for who could replace Enrique then - Newcastle goalkeeper Tim Krul let slip to the media this week that the club had made moves to bring in PSV Eindhoven's left back Erik Pieters as Enrique's replacement but it very much seems unlikely a deal could be struck before Saturday's opening Premier League fixture against Arsenal. Enrique will be a massive loss to Newcastle United and more so when you consider how well he played alongside his friends Fabricio Coloccini and Jonas Guttierez, who all seemed in-tune together down that left hand side where our best attacks came from. But then again... can any Newcastle United fan say for 100% certain that Coloccini and Guttierez will still be here come September 1st?