LIVERPOOL WILL intensify their efforts to offload Charles Itandje this summer after the reserve goalkeeper behaved offensively during the Hillsborough memorial service at Anfield on Wednesday.
The French goalkeeper was spotted laughing and acting the fool by TV cameras at the service to mark the 20th anniversary of the deaths of 96 Liverpool supporters at Hillsborough.
Members of the congregation complained about Itandje’s behaviour, which was in stark contrast to the solemn occasion and that of the rest of the Liverpool squad. Rafael Benitez, the team manager, is understood to be livid with the 26-year-old having studied the complaints and the footage.
Anfield officials have described Itandje’s behaviour as “wholly unacceptable” and are exploring the maximum punishment they can impose on the player with their legal advisers.
He is unlikely to play for the club again.
Itandje has made seven first-team appearances since joining Liverpool on a free transfer from Lens in 2007, but has not started a senior game since the FA Cup defeat by Barnsley last season. He does, however, remain a registered member of the first-team squad and still has more than two years to run on his contract.
Attempts to sell Itandje to several clubs last summer were thwarted by the goalkeeper’s personal demands, but Benitez will renew efforts to part with Itandje at the next available opportunity.
Andriy Voronin, meanwhile, expects to return to Anfield when his spell on loan with Hertha Berlin finishes at the end of the season.
Voronin would like to stay at the Bundesliga club but said the two clubs could not agree a deal.
“Liverpool made a good offer, which Hertha did not accept. It is a shame that it may not go through. I have already ordered the boxes and am moving out of the apartment within a month and a half,” he said.
:quality(70)/cloudfront-eu-central-1.images.arcpublishing.com/irishtimes/YVIRIOZQ35EWRPZXR27KGMO6YU.png)