Analysed: Three centre-backs Liverpool could bring in before the window shutsBy James Pearce and Mark Carey Jan 29, 2021 - Theathletic.com
The tone has changed at Liverpool.
Having initially been reluctant to go down the road of pursuing a short-term fix for their centre-back crisis, now all options are on the table. Feelers have gone out to agents across Europe to establish what is and what isn’t possible ahead of Monday’s transfer deadline.
The Athletic understands that a loan signing or a free transfer as a stopgap is the most likely remedy for a defensive headache which intensified this week with the injuries to Fabinho and Joel Matip. However, a permanent deal for a longer-term target would still be considered by the club’s hierarchy if they felt an agreement made sense financially.
The clock is ticking and it promises to be a busy few days for sporting director Michael Edwards. Liverpool’s cause isn’t helped by the fact that everyone knows they are so desperate for reinforcements. It’s a seller’s market but action is urgently required.
“I’m not picky but we need to find the right player,” declared Jurgen Klopp following Thursday’s impressive 3-1 win over Tottenham.
At the AXA Training Centre on Friday afternoon he elaborated on why it’s been so difficult to sign a centre-half to help fill the void initially created by the serious knee injuries sustained by Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez. Money is one issue as a result of the pandemic but he also talked about the dearth of suitable options available.
“You know the situation with centre-halves out there. You know the clubs where the centre-halves are playing,” Klopp said.
“You know the clubs where they are obviously interesting because everyone is talking about them. Tell me if one of these clubs needs the money and needs to sell a player? And if they need money then they want crazy money.
“As a football fan you can sit at home and think ‘They have to do something’. But that’s not how it works. We see the situation. We lost probably two of the best centre-halves in the whole market in a period of six to seven weeks for the whole season. That’s massive.
“The winter transfer market opens and everyone says ‘Now you can do something’. We try. We see the situation. We don’t close our eyes.
“We cannot go out and say ‘By the way, you saw Liverpool struggled a little on the centre-half position, are you ready to sort out our problem?’ In an ideal world, it would be that the short-term solution is the long-term solution as well. That would be great but I don’t know if we can do that.”
Liverpool had initially hoped to sit tight until the summer when price and availability would be better. For example, RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano, who is widely admired, simply isn’t for sale this month but a £40 million release clause can be activated at the end of the season.
However, as the club’s defensive plight has deepened so they have had to reassess and cast their net far and wide.
The progress of Torino centre-back Gleison Bremer has been monitored closely by recruitment staff in recent months but so far there’s been no official approach from Liverpool.
Real Madrid’s Eder Militao has been repeatedly linked with a move to Merseyside but the current situation at the Bernabeu makes that a non-starter. The Brazilian started against Alaves last weekend with Sergio Ramos and Nacho both sidelined.
Sources close to Issa Diop of West Ham United claim that Liverpool have enquired about the French defender who is out of favour in the capital after slipping to fourth in their pecking order of centre-backs. However, with the two clubs so close to each other in the table it’s unlikely that West Ham would sanction a loan unless it came with an obligation to buy. He would command a fee in excess of £20 million.
Senior figures at Anfield dismissed reports suggesting they were trying to sign Sven Botman of Lille earlier this month and insisted they had “zero interest” in him. There is no indication that stance has changed since.
Shkodran Mustafi would be a cheap option given Arsenal’s desire to offload a player who will be a free agent this summer. He has Premier League experience but has barely featured this season and is limited.
Neven Subotic, who played under Klopp at Borussia Dortmund, is a free agent after cancelling his contract with Denizlispor in Turkey but he has also hardly played this season and his best days are behind him.
That’s the dilemma for Edwards and Klopp. They understand the clamour outside the club but it has to be the right fit. There’s no point signing someone who needs a month or two to get up to speed fitness-wise. There’s no point signing someone whose skillset is ill-suited to Liverpool’s style and Klopp’s high defensive line.
The Athletic’s data analyst Mark Carey assesses the suitability of three possible centre-back candidates…
Gleison BremerIn Bremer, we return to a player who was tipped in October as The Athletic’s choice for a Liverpool target by our football analytics writer, Tom Worville. Bremer had a strong campaign at left centre-back for Torino last season and has been someone that Liverpool have followed closely.
This season, the 23-year-old has been deployed largely as a right centre-back, which highlights his versatility to play as either one of a centre-back pairing. It was previously highlighted in October that Bremer still required time to develop his game in possession. Looking at his smarterscout statistics (a site which gives detailed analytics on players all over the world, producing a score between 0-99), he is certainly more active on the ball this season — as shown by his link-up play volume (78 out of 99) and his carry and dribble volume (83 out of 99).
While his ability to retain the ball remains fairly low (35 out of 99), this would no doubt improve with the calibre of players around him at Liverpool.
What remains unchanged is Bremer’s strong reading of the game and ability to intercept the ball, shown by his rating of 87 out of 99 for recoveries and interceptions. He is very much a front-foot defender, further highlighted by his defending intensity (99 out of 99). This means he will often apply pressure and be proactive in his defensive actions where relevant, rather than passively defending with blocks and clearances.
His ability in the air was previously cited as a trait that he could improve upon. In open play, his aerial duel rating (34 out of 99) is nowhere near as proficient as Van Dijk or Matip.
At 6ft tall, he is unlikely to have as much aerial presence as Liverpool’s current crop do — but he makes up for it with his defensive intensity and reading of the game.
Issa DiopDiop has only played 297 minutes in the Premier League for West Ham this season. As such, it is more reliable to look at his profile from last season where he was a mainstay in the West Ham defence at right centre-back.
Looking at his smarterscout profile, it would appear as though Liverpool might have to compromise something if they brought Diop in. The 24-year-old is not a front-foot, active defender who is likely to engage in a high volume of defensive actions. His rating for disrupting opposition moves (48 out of 99) means he is about average in how much he looks to make tackles, fouls, blocks and clearances, per minute out of possession.
However, when he does engage defensively, the numbers show he is above average in his defending impact (68 out of 99). This suggests that he is good at stopping the opposition progressing further and forces turnovers in possession when he does go for the ball.
On the ball, there may also be a compromise. Diop has not performed particularly strongly in keeping possession — shown by his rating of 16 out of 99 for ball retention ability. This may, in part, be due to his style of play, in which his progressive passing (56 out of 99) suggests he will quite often play passes that look to move the ball forward, rather than play it safe. It may also be in part due to his long balls upfield which do not reach a team-mate. Retaining possession is a key part of Liverpool’s game, so playing a simple pass is something he would have to get used to if he moved to Anfield.
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Shkodran Mustafi
Mustafi has also played very few minutes for Arsenal this season — only 45 minutes in the league.
Again, this means turning to his playing profile from last season for Arsenal. Mustafi would provide a somewhat different style. Looking at his smarterscout ratings, we see that he is adept at bringing the ball out of defence himself (his carry and dribble volume is rated 74 out of 99) or passing the ball forward into players ahead of him (his progressive passing scores 75 of 99). Understandably, this style might be a little more high-risk high reward, shown by his lower ability to retain the ball — but against sides who might sit back against Liverpool, this could be a good trait to step out of defence as Joel Matip likes to do.
Defensively, we see that he is a front-foot defender — shown by his defending intensity of 81 out of 99 — but doesn’t make a really high volume of actions that disrupt opposition moves (35 out of 99) or pick up loose balls (38 out of 99).
When the opposition do have it, Mustafi is about average in terms of preventing them from progressing the ball further (49 out of 99). A strength in his play is that not only is he frequently involved in aerial duels (80 out of 99), but his ability to win headers is also strong, with a smarterscout rating of 93 out of 99 for aerial duels in open play. This is a key attribute in the Liverpool side, and they have missed the aerial presence at both ends of the pitch, particularly when Matip and Van Dijk have not been playing.
As things stand, Klopp only has captain Jordan Henderson as a makeshift defender and two rookies in Nathaniel Phillips and Rhys Williams still standing as his centre-back options.
It’s a critical few days in the context of Liverpool’s season.
Victory over Tottenham lifted the gloom after a miserable January but the feeling persists that Liverpool simply have to sign an experienced centre-back if they are going to last the pace.
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