Left-Field, Surprising, and Out of Nowhere. Liverpool and Transfers

Plus, various other bits and bobs

It’s an interesting and intriguing summer, with the unusual situation, amid the Euros and other distractions, of a new manager arriving, the old Director of Football back in a new role, the other old Director of Football back in a different new role, and a new Director of Football, who was an ally of the first old Director of Football.

(Note: vitally, none of these men are actually old. Or even close.)

Add Man City and Aston Villa threatening to undo the league’s rules, and it’s a time of change, and potentially greater change.

Liverpool have a couple of ageing stars who could be sold, in Alisson and Mo Salah; whose quality you would still want to utilise, but where you may opt to move forward with younger alternatives who offer more long-term gain.

There is no deadwood in the senior squad, in terms of players who just aren’t good enough (two injury-prone elite players have departed); perhaps apart from Kostas Tsimikas, who is an honest worker and a good lad, but hasn’t pushed on as I’d hoped.

There are quite a few players hovering in the twilight zone between proven and unproven, but where they need time to grow, adapt and establish themselves; in some cases due to newness, or injuries, or finding their best role.

Then, young players like Ben Doak, Luke Chambers, Jayden Danns and Trey Nyoni, to name just four (out of almost a dozen), who may suddenly go up a level or two this summer, if they have growth spurts that make them stronger and faster, without disturbing their musculoskeletal health. There are so many than some will need loans.

(And the same applies to those who are 19 or 20, and who did a good job last season, but who could go into overdrive at some point, and others aged 19 or 20 returning from injury.)

I don’t think Arne Slot – head coach (albeit I’ll refer to him as the manager, as he still manages the team) – is going to want to bring all his Feyenoord players, even if he was in charge of transfers – but one or two could make sense.

He won’t get to pick and choose, but he will get to ask for players who fit his template, and he can provide character references for those he has worked with. We can guess at how much there is to spend, but a lot depends on the departures, and if any big names are sold.

So, how do you even make sense of this summer? Looking at what Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes have done in the past, as well as what Arne Slot appears to like in his teams, we can only guess.

But the first rule in Edwards Club is that you don’t talk about players you will sign. You just sign them.

However, perhaps some links exist between Liverpool and certain clubs, and how things were done in the past might shed light on the future.

Plus, there’s one kind of metric that seems vital now, and Liverpool have a (hidden) total superstar in this area. I’ve also run these metrics against a few of the players linked to the club. (That said, Liverpool will have far deeper data than is publicly available.)

On a combination of this type of metric, this player’s per-90 data is a few percent better than in either of Kevin de Bruyne’s 2022/23 and 2023/24 seasons, and it’s de Bruyne’s strong suit.

**This article is for paying TTT Main Hub subscribers only.**