This week’s news that Ireland international Alex Pearce is close to joining Liverpool this summer came a little from left field.

For the past few weeks Swansea skipper Ashley Williams has been linked with the Reds, and although the Wales defender could still join, Rodgers has still identified another player he has worked with before.

Defence is an area of concern for Liverpool and not just because of Jamie Carragher’s impending retirement.

Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel in particular, have been far from secure this term with the latter linked with a move away from Anfield.

Meanwhile, Pearce has been at Reading for his entire career, with the exception of loan spells. But with the Royals relegated to the Championship, Rodgers is set to take advantage.

The Liverpool boss joined Reading in June 2009 and although he only lasted in the role for six months, he would have seen enough of Pearce to have a fair idea of his worth.

The 24-year-old centre-back was handpicked as a future “John Terry” (on the pitch I hasten to add) by naming him vice-captain at the tender age of 21.

But can he make the step up from Reading to a team that has Top Four aspirations, regardless of how realistic that possibility is.

Distribution

Pearce has made 18 starts for Reading this season and although not blessed with pace, he makes up for this with good positioning and physical strength.

At 6 foot 2 he is strong in the air, but he has one major weakness that makes it difficult to see how he will fit in at Rodgers’ Liverpool: his distribution.

Normally most defenders have pass success rates of at least 85 per cent – except for teams that go for the route one approach.

Pearce’s passing is abysmal, with a completion rate of 68 per cent which drops to a very poor 44 per cent when he finds himself in the opposition half.

Contrast that to Agger whose success rate is 89 per cent and almost 80 per cent in the opposition half.

In fact Agger, Carragher and Skrtel all have significantly superior pass success rates in the opposition half of the field compared to Pearce in his own half of the pitch.

With Rodgers adhering to a progressive approach which sees the Reds build from the back, it is difficult to see how Pearce fits into that plan unless his distribution improves tenfold.

But what of his Ireland future? The English born defender has been capped once, scoring on his debut in the 4 – 1 win over Oman so he is already on Giovanni Trapattoni’s radar.

It’s hard to know with Trap, but you would expect Pearce to get more call-ups if he does complete a move to a higher profile club like Liverpool and gets semi-regular playing time, especially with the lack of depth at centre-half for Ireland.   

©INPHO/Lorraine O'Sullivan