Dear Dychey: Alberto looking for another chance as Lazio move looms

*Dear Dychey is Paddy Power’s Agony Aunt column. Any apparent resemblance to any figures around football is purely coincidental.

Dear Dychey,

It looks like I’m heading for a split with my current team, but they haven’t seen the best of me yet!

Ok, so I’ve had nearly five years, some say that’s plenty of time, but I had a few rough spells and you know how managers get it in their heads that you’re a certain type of player – a bad one, for example – and that you don’t fit their system.

You never get to show your full potential.

Sevilla’s Spanish defender Coke (L) vies with Liverpool’s Spanish defender Alberto Moreno during the UEFA Europa League final football match between Liverpool FC and Sevilla FC at the St Jakob-Park stadium in Basel, on May 18, 2016. AFP PHOTO / FABRICE COFFRINI / AFP / FABRICE COFFRINI (Photo credit should read FABRICE COFFRINI/AFP/Getty Images)

And I wouldn’t mind, but there have been highs too – who could forget that magical night in Basel, 1-0 up in a European final and we’re set for another glorious victory… at least until 16 seconds after half-time.

But no one remembers the good moments, that’s what hurts the most. Unai Emery thought I put in a great performance that night. He was Sevilla manager at the time, but still.

And what about all the games I didn’t mess up? There must’ve been, what, nine, ten of those! There’s no thanks for them, is there?

Well, besides the wages, obviously.

Anyway, it looks like I’ll be on my way out now, but I still think I can prove that I’m the kind of attacking full-back this team needs.

What can I do put off this move?

Al M.

ANN ARBOR, MI – JULY 28: Alberto Moreno #18 passes against the Manchester United during first half of the International Champions Cup 2018 at Michigan Stadium on July 28, 2018 in Ann Arbor, Michigan. (Photo by Jason Miller/Getty Images)

Dr Dychey says: Al, no one can doubt your willingness to take a chance when the opportunity arises – they’ve seen your first touch under pressure and it’s a bloody lottery where the ball will go.

But there’s no doubt you’ve talent. Comparisons to Jordi Alba back in the day were commonplace, and I can see why – you love to play in the opposition’s half, just like Barca’s full-backs.

The trouble is you’re doing it when the other lot have the ball at your end.

Many critics have recognised the positives in your play too – you’ve definitely raised the level of others around you. It’s like Gary Neville said, going out with you in the team, everyone else upped their game because they knew they were already one-nil down.

And then there’s Jamie Carragher’s infamous tweet to Klopp and the Transfer Committee to “sign a f**cking left-back.” Well, they really stepped up when they signed Andy Robertson, didn’t they? There’s no way they’d have done that deal if you weren’t quite so bad.

But all things must pass Al. Including yourself, usually to an onrushing attacker. It’s time to accept that there are things we can control and things we can’t – another ball joke here would be too much. Your career and life has taken the direction it has, you cannot undo any previous mistakes, you’ve just got to learn from them.

If you do really want to stay your best hope is to keep your head down on the bench. The less time you’re on the pitch, the less chance of more mistakes. Jordan Henderson’s play can be a guide here too. Even when he’s on the field, it feels like he’s on the bench in spirit most of the time.

The talk is you’re off to Italy and the pace of play is bit more relaxed there. Any cock-ups you make, you might just have the speed to recover from. And no one’s watching anyway.