Pushing On

ARTICLE BY MATTY

Unlike most of my transfer articles, where I try to find players who fit what the club might be looking for, I instead look to address questions at a more macro level. Namely, why exactly are we reportedly in the market for a position in the first place? Fortunately one of the few apps I use regularly has a grading system for transfer news so I’m able to figure out who might actually be talking sense and who is just making stuff up. From the few good sources that have actually said anything, I can gather that the club are seemingly interested in adding three players to the squad. A new CB, a new DM, and a new winger.

A new CB seems to be the top priority for the summer from what I can gather, and that makes sense. Our defense got worse year on year towards the end of the Klopp era, for a variety of reasons. With Virgil van Dijk still at the peak of his powers but entering his mid-30s, Jarell Quansah still rather inexperienced at the top level, and Ibou Konate’s form resembling a roller coaster, adding a top tier player to the position would ensure we have the proper depth and talent required to compete on all fronts. It’d also create more of a proper succession plan for the day Virgil either leaves the club or retires as part of it. I hope for the latter. Notice I didn’t include Joe Gomez, that’s for a reason. I think Gomez is our starting RB next season. He’s shown he can play the inverted role Slot likes from his RB, and if Slot wants to play with 3 CBs, Gomez is more than capable of that as well. He’s earned an opportunity to start, at minimum.

If Gomez is our starting RB, like I think he will be, then here comes the second change I predict we’ll see under Slot. I think Trent is a full-time midfielder from now on. Slot won’t tolerate his lackadaisical effort nor his lack of awareness at the RB position. And seeing England manager Horseface McGee using him as a midfielder at the Euros should give Slot a template on how to make it work. Trent being a midfielder gives us an embarrassment of riches in front of Endo. Szoboszlai, Mac Allister, Trent, Elliott, Jones, Gravenberch, incredibly spoiled for choice.

But we only have one proven DM, Wataru Endo. Stefan Bajcetic could be an answer, but we don’t know what his best position is yet in midfield and he’s just missed an entire season through injury. Therefore, it makes sense the club is looking for a long-term option to challenge Endo and eventually be trusted to be the starter. The DM position is perhaps one of the most important in football. A shield for the defense as well as a constant outlet in attack. Very few can do everything demanded of a modern CDM, and when one emerges they are quickly snapped up by top teams for massive fees. Think Rodri, Declan Rice, Aurelien Tchouameni. Wataru Endo perhaps isn’t quite like all of them but he is just as good if not better. Now the job is to find a successor to Endo who can continue to provide Endo’s top tier level of performance for years to come.

The attack is perhaps the group with the most question marks. For me it’s not a question of quality, but rather of consistency. We’ve seen Diaz, Gakpo and Nunez have some amazing performances, but there’s been just as many times, if not more, where they leave you speechless for all the wrong reasons. Diogo Jota is great, for the ten or so games a season where he’s healthy. And then there’s Mo Salah. If you look at the raw numbers, he had another excellent season. But age is definitely starting to take its toll, specifically regarding his pace. We saw Klopp try to counteract this by making him into more of a playmaker, but this dulled the attack’s cutting edge significantly. Our attack under Klopp always worked best with multiple speed demons flying towards goal. We just didn’t have that enough last season due to injury and ineffectiveness.

A lightning quick winger to rotate with Salah solves a lot of things for the attack. From a decision-maker’s standpoint, it shows that the club recognizes there’s an issue without having to make hard decisions on existing players. It makes sense to think that way because in the case of all three of Diaz, Gakpo and Nunez, there’s still a sense we don’t exactly know what we have in them yet. The ability is clearly there, but getting them to consistently be at their best has been a challenge to say the least. However, the last reason is perhaps most important. Salah would have a backup who can take on some of the heavy workload Salah consistently gets. This could keep Salah more fresh and therefore could mean he’s more consistent over the course of the season. Having a long-term plan for replacing Salah also leaves the attack and the team itself in much better shape for the future. It’s a win all around.

Normally I think 2-3 signings a season are nearly required at the top level. You don’t want to change too many things at once if the team is successful, but at the same time there’s almost always long-term needs to be filled as well as opportunities to add competition and depth within the squad. For the most part that’s all Liverpool really need to do. While the long-term needs are major, they’ve set themselves up so that those long-term needs can be the only focus. This gives the club more time to evaluate potential options and a better chance at choosing the right players to help guide the team towards future success.