Is Under-Fire Left-Back Alberto Moreno’s Time Really Up at Liverpool?

Few Liverpool players have begun the 2016/17 season in a less favourable position than Spanish left-back Alberto Moreno, with the 24-year-old dropping down the pecking order under Jurgen Klopp after a tumultuous end to 2015/16—and according to former Reds vice-captain Jamie Carragher, his days are numbered.

Speaking to TalkSport (h/t the Liverpool Echo’s Joe Rimmer) following Liverpool’s 2-1 victory away to Chelsea on Friday night, Carragher concluded that Moreno’s “time is up,” with Klopp favouring James Milner as his first-choice left-back:

He obviously rates [Milner] higher than Moreno.

If you’re a left-back and the manager is playing a right midfielder ahead of you it probably tells you time is up at the club, so I would imagine in January or the end of the season a left-back will come in.

Milner would become back-up and it wouldn’t be too bad then. I must say he’s done very well but at this stage of his career it is not easy, but I don’t think it could last for a full season and I am sure Klopp and his team are scouting for a left-back. Because you can see he has no time for Moreno.

Milner has started every game he has been available in so far this season, only missing the Reds’ Premier League opener away to Arsenal due to an ankle injury, and he has carved out his place on the left defensive flank.

This has limited Moreno to three outings, including just one start, totalling a meagre 104 minutes on the pitch out of a possible 540—more conspicuous for changes of hairstyle than performances in a Liverpool shirt.

But is Carragher’s assertion that Klopp and his backroom staff are already searching for a new first-choice left-back premature, or is Moreno’s time really up on Merseyside, just over two years after he signed from Sevilla? 

It can certainly be argued that Moreno is a victim of bad timing, given a summer of brooding was bookended by two disappointing performances from the defender.

On May 18, Moreno rounded off the 2015/16 campaign with a dismal showing against his former side in the UEFA Europa League final, most notably culpable for Kevin Gameiro’s equalising goal just 17 seconds after half-time—the Reds surrendered a 1-0 lead in a mystifying second-half collapse, eventually losing 3-1.

Carragher led the criticism of Moreno in the aftermath, taking to Twitter (h/t The Independent’s James Mariner) to plead “Jurgen, transfer committee, anyone sign a f–king left-back,” while another former Liverpool star, Michael Owen, told BT Sport (h/t the Liverpool Echo’s David …

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