Liverpool can nonetheless signal £100m “machine”

Although Liverpool‘s opening Premier League fixture in opposition to Bournemouth can have the undivided consideration of the membership’s supporters, the prospect of Alexander Isak main the road will linger as an underlying thought of their minds.

The switch saga has muttered and rumbled like faraway thunder this summer season, with the hopes of welcoming “the perfect striker within the Premier League“, as Isak has been referred to as by Sky Sports activities’ Jamie Carragher, rising and falling over the weeks.

However with Hugo Ekitike having signed and already scored for Liverpool, the forthcoming fixture in opposition to the Cherries might be met with the boldness that Arne Slot‘s facet have the means to make it a profitable begin to their title defence, having received the league so confidently final 12 months.

Isak is not the one one on FSG’s radar. Anfield’s summer season switch cost has been led by Richard Hughes, and Hughes has used his Italian connections to strike a shocking deal for Parma’s Giovanni Leoni, one of the proficient teenage centre-backs in Europe.

With a bid for Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi ongoing, it appears like Liverpool’s work is sort of achieved, however there’s really a case to be made for an additional midfielder too.

Why Liverpool want a midfielder

Florian Wirtz might need been referred to as “the perfect midfielder on the planet” by former Bayer Leverkusen striker Patrick Helmes, however the German ten operates extra inside the cracks between the entrance and center thirds, pulling strings and making stuff occur.

Liverpool should give some thought to these housed behind the German, the industrious pack on the coronary heart of the engine.

Palace outfought Liverpool at Wembley, with Sofascore recording the Eagles to have received 60% of the bottom battles. Ryan Gravenberch was absent and Alexis Mac Allister solely performed 19 minutes off the bench, however the disparity in metal and tenacity was clear.

Liverpool want somebody to fit into the anchor and organise and deal with and promote the movement of the build-up play, somebody to distinction with Gravenberch within the deep-lying place.

Properly, that somebody may very well be Crystal Palace’s Adam Wharton, with current studies suggesting that the England worldwide is a long-standing goal at Liverpool.

Nonetheless, Palace worth Wharton in extra of £100m, and with Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur and even Actual Madrid all eager on signing the 22-year-old, FSG would possibly need to use their channel of negotiation with Selhurst Park to their benefit, and put within the groundwork that will seal a shocking signing.

In any case, Wharton is likely one of the largest English skills on the market, with sufficient potential to even outstrip his teammate Guehi.

What Adam Wharton would deliver to Liverpool

In January 2023, Crystal Palace signed Wharton from Blackburn Rovers within the Championship, and he has since bloomed into one of the thrilling midfielders in English soccer.

Instrumental in serving to Oliver Glasner’s facet towards profitable the FA Cup final season, earlier than following that up with a commanding show over Liverpool throughout final week’s Neighborhood Protect, Wharton has been described as a “passing machine” by journalist Henry Winter.

The statistics again that up, no query there. FBref have recorded Wharton to rank among the many prime 9% of midfielders throughout Europe’s prime 5 leagues over the previous 12 months for progressive passes and the highest 7% for shot-creating actions per 90, emphasising his skill to affect an attacking transition from deep and promote build-up play.

Provided that Liverpool’s build-up fulcrum has retreated inward beneath Slot’s wing, with Klopp and now Trent Alexander-Arnold‘s departures reorienting the playmaking focus to the center lane, Wharton may very well be good for the Merseysiders, discovering a job that will enable him to develop into one of many best possible within the enterprise, the world over, and turn into a famous person with the Reds.

On this manner, Wharton would possibly really be a much bigger expertise than Guehi, particularly as he is practically 4 years his countryman’s junior and is already being thought-about by groups like Liverpool and Actual Madrid.

Contemplating how the Three Lions maestro in comparison with Slot’s centrepiece, Gravenberch, final season within the Premier League, it is honest to recommend that a number of years beneath Slot’s tutelage may see him settled as a world-class participant, conducting not simply because the heartbeat of Liverpool’s group however the England Males’s facet too.

Regardless of his damage issues final season, the metrics reveal Wharton to have made his mark, matching Gravenberch’s athleticism and greater than holding his personal from a defensive standpoint – even sustaining a steadier artistic movement than the Liverpool star, whose unimaginable kind led to being awarded the Premier League Younger Participant of the Yr.

His first foray into the English top-flight yielded even riper outcomes, with Wharton averaging three tackles per recreation and swiftly turning the heads of the division’s elite members.

Although Guehi has what it takes to turn into a mainstay in Liverpool’s backline over the approaching years, particularly as soon as Virgil van Dijk has hung up his Crimson laces, Wharton, already thought-about a £100m participant, is a “very particular participant within the making“, as has been famous by expertise scout Jacek Kulig.

Would possibly Liverpool be taking a look at Thiago Alcantara reborn on this Eagles prospect? Actually, he has the aptitude, finesse and intelligence to go proper to the very prime.

Although finishing a deal this summer season could be a stretch too far for FSG, it is unlikely Wharton’s sale might be sanctioned in any respect earlier than 2026, and given Liverpool’s lengthy curiosity within the participant, they could be primed to strike sooner or later, beating an entire host of prime outfits to his signature.