DIRK KUYT, the Holland forward, is in contention to make his Liverpool debut in the opening Barclays Premiership match of the season away to Sheffield United tomorrow lunchtime after spending yesterday on Merseyside putting the final touches to his £9 million transfer from Feyenoord.
Kuyt, 26, underwent a medical examination yesterday afternoon, having played for his country against Ireland in Dublin the previous evening, and is expected to be included in Liverpool’s squad for the televised match at Bramall Lane, if international clearance is received in time.
A place on the substitutes’ bench is most likely, while he will be ineligible for the Champions League qualifying match against Maccabi Haifa in Kiev on Tuesday, but Rafael Benítez expects him to challenge for a regular place in a forward line in which Peter Crouch, Craig Bellamy and Robbie Fowler are already competing for places.
The news came as a blow to Newcastle United, whose manager, Glenn Roeder, travelled to Dublin on Wednesday to watch the forward, unaware that a deal with Liverpool was imminent. Kuyt had been quoted as saying that he wished to join Newcastle, but the player and Liverpool were always confident that he would end up on Merseyside.
“Liverpool is the dream club I was looking for,” Kuyt said yesterday. “There was interest from abroad, but for me there was nothing of the calibre of Liverpool, a brilliant club with an enormous reputation, a fantastic empathetic support and a fabulous history.”
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Kuyt made little impact as a half-time substitute in Holland’s 4-0 victory over Ireland, but Benítez believes that, as well as an impressive scoring record of 71 goals in three seasons for Feyenoord, the forward has the aerial prowess, energy and teamwork to improve his attack. His arrival will be most keenly felt by Crouch, who, despite scoring twice for England against Greece on Wednesday, joked that he expected Benítez “ to pull me in and tell me what I could have done better”.
Benítez will look to reduce the club’s wage bill by selling Florent Sinama Pongolle and Anthony Le Tallec, who are attracting interest from Lyons and Sochaux respectively, as well as Jan Kromkamp and Salif Diao.