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Danny Murphy delivers verdict on Duncan bust-up

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talkSPORT pundit Danny Murphy has delivered his verdict on the fall-out between Liverpool and Saif Rubie, the agent of young striker Bobby Duncan. 

In an explosive tweet, since deleted, Rubie accused Liverpool and sporting director Michael Edwards of “bullying and mentally destroying” Duncan by refusing to let him leave the club.

He added, “Bobby has not left his room for four days because of this and will never go back to Liverpool again and my only concern now is his mental health and well being.” [Sky Sports]

Liverpool responded saying, “Liverpool Football Club is aware of and disappointed by the unattributed comments and unfounded allegations that have been made in the media regarding one of our players. As the interests of the player in question are not best served by either inaccurate speculation, inflammatory statements or public discourse, we will be making no further comment. We will, however, continue our efforts to work privately with the player to find resolution in the best interests of all involved.”

Talking on the Jim White Show (talkSPORT, Thursday, 11.30am), Danny Murphy gave his take on the situation.

“It’s disappointing, any young player having any problems, is always disappointing,” Murphy said. “It’s a situation that could have been dealt with a lot better by the agent first and foremost.

“My feeling is an agent has a responsibility to look after the player and put his welfare first. That means having a relationship with the club he’s playing at. It doesn’t mean they’ll always get on but you can’t put your business on social media. It means you’re not doing your job properly.

“Liverpool football club is a wonderful institution that’s dealt with a lot of players and has a very good reputation for dealing with players. In my mind, they’re not bullying players.

“It’s bizarre why the agent thinks it’s beneficial – it’s not going to help Duncan. It’s ludicrous for the agent to be putting out that they’re bullying him.

“If he’s feeling depressed and not going out because he’s feeling depressed it’s a big deal, that’s not right. That’s the important thing, get him right first, and then, if it means a change of agent, no agent should be having a spat with a club or going to social with mental health issues, that’s not right.”

TiF Verdict

Saif Rubie has deleted his Twitter account in the wake of the Bobby Duncan storm but that’s maybe come a few days too late for the player.

We live in a world that’s viewed through the prism of social media but putting out tweets about the mental health of young players and taking on the most important man at Liverpool behind Jurgen Klopp is a pretty stupid thing to do. It’s certainly not going to help Duncan, and that should be the most important thing to Rubie.

It’s easy to forget how much pressure is on young players who are coming up through the ranks at some of the world’s biggest clubs.

It’s a different world, one that promises riches and adulation, but one that can be hard to deal with.

Murphy is spot on when he says that the welfare of Duncan is the most important thing here. But it’s going to be hard for him to distance himself completely from what Rubie’s done. Hopefully, Liverpool can help here and Duncan can find another agent who doesn’t have such a hand grenade approach to his client’s welfare.

We obviously don’t know everything that’s happened, but we’re not supposed to. It’s a situation that deserves to play out in private from now on.

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