It looks like Liverpool’s transfer window will be about a midfield reshuffling, but they’ve also been linked with forwards with Federico Chiesa’s name constantly in the spotlight.
Three days ago, we reported in Corriere dello Sport that the Italy international would be happy to accept an offer from the Merseysiders.
The Rome-based news source claimed that the Old Lady was expecting around 55 million euros by selling their attacker.
Yesterday, Calcio Mercato Web published a report stating that Liverpool and Bayern Munich are keen on signing the 25-year-old star.
According to the Italian outlet, Juventus are ready to agree a deal worth just €45m (£38.6m) to sell Chiesa to suitors.
The Bianconeri will undergo a major overhaul this summer. They have already released players like Juan Cuadrado and Angel di Maria.
On the other hand, apart from Chiesa, Dusan Vlahovic would also be about to leave the club in the current transfer market.
The Azzurri playmaker was largely injured last season, started just 6 games in Serie A and directly contributed to 7 goals (2 goals and 5 assists).
He has played in the last ten league games and hopes to stay out of the couch after a long absence from the pitch.
Chiesa scored twice in Italy’s Euro 2020 winning campaign. Should Liverpool offer £38.6million to sign him?
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Liverpool can copy Mikel Arteta transfer plan as Roméo Lavia ‘targeted’ to replace Fabinho
Liverpool have an opportunity to copy an Arsenal transfer blueprint that involved some short-term pain but is bringing spectacular rewards for Mikel Arteta.
Minus one defensive midfield piece, you can take a pretty good guess at what Liverpool’s most-used starting XI will look like next season.
Alisson will be in goal, with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konaté in front him as the first-choice center-half partnership.
Trent Alexander-Arnold will alternate between midfield and right-back in a hybrid role, while Andy Robertson will surely start the majority of games on the left side of the defense despite the external reservations over his suitability for the new system.
New signings Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister appear poised to slot into the advanced number eight roles, with Mohamed Salah a guaranteed inclusion in the frontline.
The other two spots are up for grabs, but Cody Gakpo and Luis Díaz look like the favorites, forming the most balanced trio.
The average age of those 10 players is 26.5, down from 27.3 in Liverpool’s starting XI last season, the fourth oldest in the division.
Liverpool has taken multiple steps towards reducing this already, allowing Naby Keïta (28), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (29), Roberto Firmino (31) and of course James Milner (37) to leave on free transfers before recruiting Mac Allister (24) and Szoboszlai (22).
Now, if you look at the first team squad as a whole (as listed on the club’s official website), the average age, with Fabinho’s imminent move to Al-Ittihad, will drop to 26.3, a reduction of exactly one year from last season’s roster.
The identity of Liverpool’s replacement for the Brazilian will indicate the club’s direction. If it brings in one of the more experienced candidates, like Man City’s Kalvin Phillips, Fiorentina’s Sofyan Amrabat or Fulham’s João Palhinha (via Sky Sports/ECHO), all of whom will be 27 or 28 by the time the year is out, it will suggest the Reds aren’t ready to fully embrace youth just yet, and want to halt the acceleration of their rebuild.
But if they instead throw their backing behind 19-year-old Roméo Lavia, who was ‘high’ on the agenda before the offer for Fabinho arrived (Sky Sports), it would represent a huge expression of faith in a new core of young players.
Indeed, if you add Lavia to the vacant slot in the aforementioned line-up, the average age would drop to 25.8, which would have been the fourth youngest in last season’s Premier League.
This would see Liverpool emulate the trajectory of Premier League rival Arsenal in the last five years or so.
In 2017/18, Arsène Wenger’s final season at the club, Arsenal fielded the joint-eighth oldest starting line-up on average (26.7), but by 2020/21, they were fifth youngest (25.9), and a year later, they were top of the pile at 24.4. The side that finished second in the Premier League last season was second in the leaderboard on 24.7, only behind Southampton.
Mikel Arteta and co. have undertaken a concerted effort to regenerate the squad with young talent, and it’s paid off handsomely.
Looking from afar at the resurgence of the Gunners, who have supplanted the Reds as Manchester City’s nearest challenger, Liverpool may have been inspired. Yes, there may be short-term pain, but it might well be worth it for the sustained rewards further down the line.
