Liverpool could strike perfect balance with midfield transfer as new Jurgen Klopp plan emerges
Trent Alexander-Arnold made an effort to control his emotions as he spoke to the media for the first time as Liverpool’s vice-captain.
The 24-year-old, trying to contain a beaming grin, said, “I’ve put a lot of hard work in up to this point to reach these kinds of milestones. It took a lot for me to smile, but at this particular moment, I was proud of myself and thought, “I’m proud of myself!”.
Jurgen Klopp was speaking at the Singapore National Stadium before their preseason matchup against Bayern Munich on Wednesday, and Alexander-Arnold was seated next to him.
The Liverpool manager justified his selection of Alexander-Arnold as Virgil van Dijk’s backup by saying, “We had plenty of options for captaincy and vice-captaincy.”. “At this club, you need a specific DNA, and if Trent isn’t it, then who? We didn’t think we’d have to think about it this year, but it wasn’t a difficult choice to make. ”.
The departures of Jordan Henderson, who joined Steven Gerrard’s Al Ettifaq, and former vice-captain James Milner, whose contract expired in July, have caused a reorganization of Liverpool’s leadership group, which is now five strong thanks to the tardy addition of Mohamed Salah.
While Milner’s departure came as little surprise given that Liverpool held all the cards in contract negotiations before owners Fenway Sports Group ultimately decided against giving the 37-year-old new terms, the same cannot be said for Henderson’s decision to join Gulf State.
The 33-year-old was preparing for his 13th season at Anfield and still had two years left on his lucrative contract that he signed in 2021. Following a string of rebellious social media posts over the summer, his return to the AXA Training Centre at the beginning of July had been eagerly anticipated.
Now, in order to put together his second outstanding Liverpool team this summer, Klopp has been forced to slam on the Anfield accelerator due to the eye-watering riches on offer in the Saudi Pro League.
It follows the £40 million departure of Fabinho, who also made a move to Saudi Arabia, joining champions Al-Ittihad, shortly after Henderson’s move to Al Ettifaq.
Such turmoil means that when Liverpool travels to Stamford Bridge to play Chelsea in just over a week, the departures of significant players like Henderson, Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Roberto Firmino will undoubtedly be felt.
However, opportunity always presents itself when faced with adversity. And it’s anticipated that Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, two summer signings, will seize those opportunities.
Their earlier-than-expected arrivals for a combined fee of £95 million highlighted Klopp’s eagerness to retaliate in the coming season and make sure Liverpool’s exclusion from the Champions League this time around is nothing more than a minor blemish on his otherwise spotless Anfield record.
In fact, the resounding 4-0 triumph over Leicester City in the team’s opening match of their tour of Singapore last weekend served as a vivid illustration of the unending excitement that the signing of the Argentine World Cup victor will bring to Anfield in the coming weeks, months, and years.
In the first of two matches at the Singapore National Stadium, Mac Allister took center stage and played a key role in both of Liverpool’s goals.
He was operating as a pivot behind Liverpool’s attacking cavalry of Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota, and Darwin Nunez.
In fact, the 24-year-old’s brilliance unquestionably makes him a far more naturalistic feature than Henderson had been in the final weeks of the 2022–23 season if Liverpool are to stick with their new 3-2-2-3 system for the long term.
The ink is still wet on Klopp’s ever-expanding summer to-do list due to the Saudi attack on his playing squad, despite all the hard work Liverpool has done this summer, both on and off the field.
During Wednesday’s dramatic 4-3 loss to Bayern Munich, the urgent need for a holding midfielder was in fact once more highlighted. Whereas, without Fabinho, Henderson, or any other natural holding midfielder, for that matter, Liverpool found themselves taken advantage of by the Bundesliga champions’ somewhat direct approach in transition.
The need for additional defensive reinforcements was also made clear during the seven-goal thriller as Joel Matip struggled to meet the new demands placed on Liverpool’s right-sided defenders—not for the first time this summer.
That performance came about a day after Klopp acknowledged that Liverpool’s desire to continue making purchases in the transfer market before the September deadline was “no secret.”.
Just hours before Liverpool’s second offer for Romeo Lavia was officially turned down by Southampton, who are standing firm in their £50m valuation of the 19-year-old, the 56-year-old made an uncharacteristic decision to call it quits on his transfer plans.
One of the few bright spots from a disastrous season on the South Coast, which culminated in the Saints’ 11-year stay in the Premier League coming to a hellish end, was Lavia, who was initially a product of the Anderlecht academy before moving to Manchester City in 2020.
