Brendan Rodgers confirmed that Nuri Sahin will play no part in Thursday night’s UEFA Europa League playoff second leg at Anfield against Hearts.
The Turkey international was signed on a year-long loan deal on Saturday but has not been registered in time to be eligible for selection in the manager’s squad for Thursday’s clash.
However, Rodgers admitted he will assess the player in training over the coming days and judge whether Sahin can play some part in Sunday’s Barclays Premier League showdown against Arsenal.
“He won’t be involved Thursday night because his registration isn’t through,” said Rodgers. “We’ll assess the player over the next few days and I’m sure he’ll be involved in the squad at the weekend.”
Meanwhile Rodgers was asked about the possibility of players leaving the club before the close of the transfer window.
“We’ve had a number of inquiries about some of the players,” he said. “I’ve been open and upfront with all our players. I think you have seen from Sunday’s game that the spirit was very strong in the group but the reality is, players want to play.
“Everyone knows where they stand at the moment and over the next few days, one or two of them have decisions to make about whether they want to be a squad player or whether they want to play regular football somewhere else. And they will be some of the decisions we will make.”
Asked about Charlie Adam‘s future, the manager replied: “Charlie’s a very good player. He’ll be a pivotal part of the Scottish national team going forward. He’s a terrific player with a good left foot, who will score goals and I’m sure he’ll do very well for Scotland.”
On the prospect of Danny Wilson going out on loan, Rodgers said: “He’s a young player that needs to play. I spoke to Danny very early on, when I came in here.
“He’s 20 years of age, so he needs to play football. There’s no point in him sitting about and not getting games. He obviously went out to Blackpool and didn’t play so much, so I think that will be the aim for Danny — to get out and get some games and see what comes up in the next couple of days.”
Rodgers added that he will look to tie up one or two pieces of business before the transfer market closes at 11pm BST on Friday night.
“I don’t think we will be doing too much [business],” he insisted. “That’s the reality of it. There are maybe one or two things that we can do and hopefully most of that will be done over the next couple of days — in terms of lining it up.
“Obviously I’m sure I will still be busy tomorrow but in terms of the game, my focus will be purely on the game. Then we’ve got another day or so after that so we’ll take what comes from that.”
Thumbnail photo via Liverpoolfc.com
