In a series of reports on the new arrivals to the Premiership, I take a look at the new signing who has just added to fantasy managers’ Rafa rotation nightmares. Martin Skrtel is the new centre-back at Anfield but just how much of headache will he give us all?

Skrtel arrives from Zenit St Petersburg on a four-and-a-half-year contract and is Liverpool’s most expensive ever defensive signing at £6 million. Clearly, he’s not arrived just to make up the numbers.

Performances in his 113 games in the top division of the Russian league had attracted a number of clubs. Liverpool had him watched for two months before making their move and he had also been monitored by Valencia, Spurs, Newcastle and Everton. The 23-year-old is a full Slovakian international with 15 caps to his name. According to Rafa that gives him enough experience to make an immediate impact at Anfield.

“I think he’s a very good player for the future and also for the present,” Benitez announced on the Official Liverpool site.

At 6’4 and almost 13 stone, Skrtel is a certainly a centre-back in the Hyypia mould. He appears to be his natural successor although significantly, Rafa chose to compare his new boy to his two first choice centre-back pairing, Carragher and Agger.

“He is more like Carra than Agger. He is a player who is strong and physical, he is good in the air and quick. I think he will settle here quickly”

“He has quality and he can be a problem for them and a good problem for me if I need to decide who to play in the future,” added Benitez.

That kind of talk clearly indicates the role he has in mind for Skrtel, potentially giving Rafa the option to rest and rotate Carragher over a number of games, whilst providing additional dominance in the air against lower league opposition and the more direct Premiership sides.

So how quickly will Skrtel be handed his chance? If we take Daniel Agger as an example of how Rafa bloods new young signings, it looks likely to be pretty damn soon. Agger was signed in the January window back in 2006 and made his Liverpool debut on February 1. He made just 4 appearances in that season but was troubled by injury. If Rafa adopts the same policy with Skrtel we can expect to see him making the first of a handful of appearances in the matter of weeks. Certainly Rafa appears to have no reservations…

“He has experience and enough quality for playing as soon as possible.”

Having said that, the Liverpool boos has also made it clear that he would give Skrtel time to find his feet in England.

“He has a good mentality and he is very strong but I will not put him under pressure, everyone needs time to settle”, added Benitez.

“Agger needed six months and he is now a fantastic player, Martin will be used carefully and not rushed.”

Certainly Rafa has to consider that Skrtel left the Russian season in the middle of a winter break, so he’s short of match practice. An article on the official site remarks that he could take around 10 days to sharpen his fitness for the Premiership.

The player himself realises that competition for places is fierce but certainly hints that Benitez has already offered some indication of the role he’ll play.

“I will do my best to get into the team as soon as possible. For any team to have competition in all positions is good and I will work as hard as possible to challenge for a place. Rafa hasn’t said too much to me about my place just yet,” remarked Skrtel on signing.

All the evidence appears to suggest the Skrtel will be used sparingly by Rafa with perhaps just half-a-dozen appearances this season. That still gives fantasy managers some concern. With the Liverpool Premiership fixtures before and after the Champions League clash with Inter Milan in February and March, looking favourites to be the first few opportunities to come Skrtel’s way. The FA Cup will also hand Rafa the chance to blood the new defender should Liverpool progress.

Clearly Skrtel hands Rafa further options in an area that was relatively settled in the Liverpool side. Agger’s return from injury should have left fantasy managers with the opportunity to sign the Dane or Carragher and rest easy, assured of getting almost maximum return in terms of Premiership starts. Skrtel now offers some threat to that, particularly if Liverpool make progress in the FA Cup and Champions League and if they were begin to slip out of the title race. That only further reduces the appeal of Liverpool’s defence, raising that of Vidic, Ferdinand, Carvalho, Dunne, Laursen and Lescott who offer less risk of rotation for similar or better returns.