Kyriakos Papadopoulos

{Profile Updated 08/06/13}







Date of Birth: - 23/02/92

Height: - 6ft

Position: - Cb

Nationality: - Greek

Current Club: - Schalke 04

Estimated Market Value: - £15-18 million pounds

Linked with: - Liverpool







Club Statistics





Olympiacos



2007/2008 season- 3 appearances, 0 goals

2008/2009 season- 3 appearances, 0 goals

2009/2010 season- 9 appearances, 0 goals

TOTAL - 15 appearances,0 goals



FC Schalke 04



2010/2011 season- 31 appearances,0 goals

2011/2012 season- 50 appearances,5 goals

2012/2013 season- 18 appearances,3 goals

TOTAL - 99 appearances, 8 goals





International Statistics







Greece U-17 6 appearances, 1 goal



Greece U-19 15 appearances, 1 goal



Greece U-21 7 appearances, 2 goals



Greece 16 appearances, 4 goals

















General Comments:



I would like to start of the profile by saying reports last night suggested that Papadopoulos had been forced into a early retirement are completely untrue but however it does show to some extent how serious of injury problems this lad suffers from this is why he represent a major risk to any club willing to invest around £18 million pound in him.Also this profile will now be as long as some others as there is only so much you can say about defenders.



Moving onto papadopoulos,He is a tremendous old fashioned centre back in many ways as in strong,good in the air,good tackler all of which i will touch upon later.But first of all he is a ball playing centre half similar to our very own Daniel Agger which is what Rodgers wants his centre backs to do is play the ball out from the back in this sense he would be the perfect signing for Liverpool and would fit straight into their system.One thing this lad has which fans love to see in a player is desire,He always has his heart in the match he shows that he wants to win football matches with a never say die attitude this is what you want in a player.I think he would become a instant fan favourite due to his attitude and desire which is what we want at Liverpool.



Papadopoulos also has many other strengths such as,His good aerial ability despite not being the biggest of defenders (6ft) he does win most of his aerial duels and is quite a threat from set-pieces.Another strength is he is very good in the tackle that is probably his biggest asset to his game,which Liverpool could do with with since the retirement of Carragher. Another good point about his games is he is so strong it is unreal he is as strong as a bull not many players in Germany have tried to out muscle him and come out with the ball.The last of his strengths are he is a real leader from the back (which we will also miss without Jamie) he gets the back 4 organised and he gets quite infuriated when a player does something wrong although many people don't like this I do I think it shows he cares about the team which is rare in a modern day player.



Now onto his weaknesses,He is currently out of action due to having an operation on a re-occurring knee problem which has prompted rumours of an early retirement although these rumours turned out to be false it shows the severity of this injury,this is just one of a number of injury problems he has also had a torn ankle joint ligament and had a tear in the abductor muscle I think is history of injury problems have previously stopped clubs from making a offer for the player if it would have been on how good of a defender he is he would have been playing for a top European club.



Another weakness is he is not the quickest of defenders although I would not class him as slow but if he come up against a Defoe or a quick attacker he would get obliterated in a foot race but he is not unbelievably slow he is no Mertesacker but he is certainly not the quickest.The last thing i will mention is he gets very angry quite easily sometimes this will result in him playing better and going in with more momentum for his challenges and winning the ball but sometimes he will commit really bad challenges although this is not very often.













Would Papadopoulos cut it in Europe?

Simply enough yes But only if he can recover from his current injury and stay injury free if he stay injury free then he could easily.On his day he is one of the top young defenders in the world and would be a very good addition for any team across the continent.







Summary of Papadopoulos:



He is a very good defender who could get in most teams across across Europe on his day I think he is a really top defender who should be an example for any young aspiring centre half.The way he plays the game would fit into Liverpool absolutely perfectly and would be a very good addition for the team.Although he represent a very,very high risk for anyone willing to pay around £19 million pounds I cant begin to explain how much a a risk this is nothing to do with him as a player but his injury problems,£19 Million for a centre back is quite steep anyway but for an injury prone young defender is a very high risk but a risk worth taking if he can keep himself injury free.





Strengths: strength,good in the tackle,good in the air



Weaknesses: injury problems,pace,anger







The Business End of the Profile:



Papadopoulos has been the subject of an enquiry from Liverpool but that is as far is it has gone so far,There has been no offer from Liverpool for the player as yet.Other clubs have walked away from a possible deal due to Schalke's high valuation and his injury problems.

























Also Thanks to Ed019 for this video.



thanks,

{A profile by Ed030}