Liverpool pushing for £50m ace who’d be Slot’s own Van Dijk signing

Liverpool are flying excessive this season, with Manchester Metropolis’s staggering collapse elevating hope that the Premier League title will be lifted at Anfield. Arne Slot’s Reds are at the moment 4 factors clear with a recreation in hand, in spite of everything.

However the season is lengthy and winding, and the likes of Arsenal and Chelsea have saved scorching on Liverpool’s heels, particularly so after the Merseyside derby was known as off because of hostile climate circumstances final weekend.

The festive interval is understood to foil many a hopeful Premier League group, however Liverpool will likely be assured of their school to beat any wintry hindrances, particularly with key gamers getting back from harm.

Though the Anfield facet have eclipsed expectations thus far this time period, there’s at all times room for enchancment, and it could be clever for FSG to sanction some winter switch exercise.

Why Liverpool want a January signing

Diogo Jota and Federico Chiesa have returned to first-team coaching, which has given a significant increase to the fluency and rotation of Liverpool’s frontline.

However a number of key members of Liverpool’s defence stay sidelined, and although the midfield has been spectacular this season, there is a sense that Liverpool might do with a brand new half to make sure the hard-working engine room retains purring as goals of silver start to turn out to be extra concrete over the approaching months.

Liverpool missed out on their huge summer season switch goal final summer season, and although this hasn’t affected the midfield, the person in query would have been an exquisite addition – and he would possibly nonetheless be.

Liverpool switch information

As per The Instances, Actual Sociedad’s Martin Zubimendi is rising accustomed to the thought of leaving the Basque Nation in 2025, having rejected the concerted efforts of Richard Hughes to convey him to Anfield at the beginning of the 2024/25 season.

The £50m-rated Spain worldwide’s openness to shifting has once more ‘alerted’ Slot and co, though he’s additionally on Man Metropolis and Arsenal’s radar. Although Liverpool’s summer season efforts will probably hand them a lift, their Premier League rivals will you’ll want to current compelling circumstances.

Zubimendi’s resolution to reject the Reds’ method opened the door for an current member of Slot’s squad, however there is not any purpose why the pair can not cohabit within the quantity six position.

What Martin Zubimendi would convey to Liverpool

Up to now this season, Ryan Gravenberch has began each fixture spanning Liverpool’s Premier League and Champions League campaigns, along with his withdrawal after the hour mark at St. James’ Park final week making for the primary minutes missed all time period.

Slot clearly has a number of belief within the dynamic, press-resistant midfielder, however he appeared fatigued at Newcastle. Slot would not favour Alexis Mac Allister within the deep-sitting position and Wataru Endo has scarcely featured all season, his tough-tackling fashion saved for late moments when Liverpool want grit.

Bringing a participant of Zubimendi’s ilk might be the dimension supplier that Liverpool want to realize their lofty objectives over the enterprise months of the season.

Final time period, Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool have been knocked out of kilter towards the ultimate phases, burned out, and it is paramount that the identical challenge doesn’t strike twice beneath Slot’s wing, for the Reds are in a incredible place to say some silverware earlier than the summer season.

Provided that Gravenberch has been broadly thought to be one of many best midfielders on English shores this season, it is curious to notice that Zubimendi operates at an analogous stage over in La Liga, such is his high quality, with Spain supervisor Luis de la Fuente even hailing him as one in all “the very best centre-midfielders on this planet.”

It could be a incredible deal for Liverpool to make, one that may even elevate Slot’s fledgling venture to an excellent greater stage. Who is aware of, maybe it could even show to be the Dutch coach’s personal Virgil van Dijk signing.

The membership’s towering captain has been a pillar of energy and management since he arrived from Southampton in January 2018, in a deal value £75m – a world file for a defender on the time.

Earlier than Van Dijk’s arrival, Klopp’s Liverpool have been an entertaining group with an unforgiving frontline, however they lacked steadiness and safety within the defensive third. It was a group that pulled followers from their seats however threw them again down slumped after error-stricken, authority-bereft defensive shows.

Van Dijk modified all that, rewrote the narrative and supercharged a quest towards the most important honours. It was he who served because the transformative determine and cemented Klopp’s legacy as one of many best in Liverpool’s wealthy historical past.

Now, Zubimendi can do the identical. The 25-year-old Spaniard is already thought to be a “world-class” participant in his homeland, as Spanish soccer author Alexandra Johnson has mentioned, and is on the radar of England’s largest and greatest outfits.

Like Gravenberch, he performs a free and influential position within the centre of the sector, able to accumulating and driving ahead whereas taking part in balls to well-placed teammates, who can then surge into harmful areas. Consider Mohamed Salah, arcing in from the precise, discovering a pointy supply that’s not solely completely weighted however posted on the good time. With regularity.

He might mix with Trent Alexander-Arnold, whereas enhancing the qualities of Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, maybe offering the latter with extra alternatives to lift his efficiency in entrance of purpose.

Whereas £50m could be an enormous winter outlay for FSG, it feels unreasonable to anticipate Gravenberch to proceed with none actual competitors throughout the period of the marketing campaign. Think about if the Netherlands star picks up a month-long harm within the new yr. Detrimental.

It is a deal that must be accomplished, particularly with Arsenal and Metropolis lurking. Having patiently waited to land Van Dijk after lacking out in the summertime of 2017, maybe an analogous state of affairs may happen with regard to Zubimendi’s seize.