Liverpool chase £78m star who’s a much bigger expertise than Barcola

Remarkably, Liverpool‘s unimaginable summer season of spending has but to go away Arne Slot‘s squad with an air of completeness.

Significantly, Virgil van Dijk‘s central defence is quite mild, particularly now that Joe Gomez has suffered a minor Achilles damage following the £35m sale of Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen.

Then flip your head towards the frontline. The unimaginable additions of rising superstars reminiscent of Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike recommend that Liverpool are shaping as much as have one of many deadliest frontlines within the recreation (in the event that they did not already).

Nevertheless, Luis Diaz left for Bayern Munich final month, and now, Darwin Nunez is on the verge of finishing a everlasting switch to Al Hilal within the Saudi Professional League.

With Federico Chiesa and Harvey Elliott each mooted to be off, it is not fascinating however crucial that Liverpool add one other attacker to their combine, and FSG seem to have one or two show-stopping names in thoughts.

Liverpool chasing one other ahead

The dream switch goal is, in fact, Alexander Isak. You may need heard that Liverpool are all for signing the Newcastle United striker, and hearsay has it he is quite eager on the journey towards Anfield too.

Sadly, Newcastle’s switch market has been a pitiful factor, with Eddie Howe little question feeling sizzling beneath the collar. Any variety of high targets have been missed on Tyneside, and with Benjamin Sesko now hoping to signal for Manchester United, Isak’s sale is much less sure, for a dependable substitute should be signed, else he won’t go away.

Final month’s preliminary £69m signing of Hugo Ekitike has tempered Liverpool’s want for the Premier League famous person, however it might nonetheless be a surprising signing.

Nevertheless, sporting director Richard Hughes is a person of deep nous, and he hasn’t positioned all his eggs in a single basket. Liverpool are rising as contenders for Paris Saint-Germain winger Bradley Barcola, although finishing a summer season deal will probably be troublesome certainly.

If neither transfer involves fruition, there’s an alternative choice ready within the wings who could be excellent for Slot’s system.

Liverpool in for for Barcola improve

Based on L’Equipe, Liverpool are within the race to signal Actual Madrid winger Rodrygo, who has additionally attracted curiosity from Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur.

Rodrygo, 24, has been anticipated to go away the Santiago Bernabeu this summer season, having struggled for type final 12 months and slid down the early pecking order because the Xabi Alonso period shapes up.

Liverpool’s curiosity in Barcola may need simply grow to be public, however their admiration for Rodrygo additionally has substance, and the South American’s suspected price ticket has been reported to fall into the area of £78m.

Why Liverpool need to signal Rodrygo

Rodrygo got here beneath hearth for his performances with Los Blancos final season. Such is his degree; such are the expectations at Actual Madrid.

His 25-goal contribution return nonetheless matched that of Diaz and Cody Gakpo at Liverpool, maybe illustrating the calibre of ahead Slot would add to his ranks, on par with the Reds crop but able to a lot extra.

And on condition that he would probably play as a left-sided ahead, a uncommon expertise lately at Actual Madrid, Rodrygo’s want to maneuver to Anfield, ought to he transfer in any respect, is comprehensible, for he notched six objectives and 6 assists from solely 12 video games as a left winger final 12 months.

Regardless that Actual Madrid’s selfless famous person had been performed out of place for almost all of the latest season, he nonetheless managed to impress, with former teammate Luka Modric even claiming he is likely one of the membership’s “world-class superstars.”

When collating his seasonal information with Barcola’s, you maybe start to see that his underlying high quality suggests he would rise to a better degree than Barcola may.

There is not any denying that Barcola has loved the higher season, successful the quadruple with PSG and notching 42 purpose contributions throughout all competitions.

However when digging deeper, it turns into clear that Rodrygo is the superior participant of the 2, and on condition that they each fall into an analogous monetary ballpark, is the one Liverpool should push for.

For instance, the French winger is thought to be a silky, high-speed dribbler, however he averaged just one dribble per match in Ligue 1 final 12 months and, extra concerningly, at a hit charge of simply 27%, as per Sofascore.

In reality, FBref additionally report that he ranked among the many backside 4% of attacking midfielders and wingers throughout all of Europe final season for take-on success charge, underscoring the quantity of failed efforts to drive the ball ahead.

A profitable take-on is recorded when a participant beats their opponent by straight carrying the ball previous them whereas retaining possession.

That is to not negate his high quality; Barcola has simply performed an instrumental function in a Champions League-winning marketing campaign in spite of everything. Nevertheless, Rodrygo is aware of his method round Europe’s elite competitors, a two-time champion and a pressure to be reckoned with on the enterprise finish too.

Barcola, furthermore, has but to shine his capturing boots. Although he scored 17 objectives throughout PSG’s Ligue 1 and Champions League campaigns, he additionally missed a whopping 33 huge possibilities.

Conversely, Rodrygo solely missed three huge possibilities, albeit he additionally netted simply 11 instances throughout his disappointing season. Nonetheless, that makes a robust touch upon his prolific skill.

When he is on his A-game, the Brazil worldwide is “unstoppable”, so says Madrid columnist Kiyan Sobhani.

Finally, the truth that Liverpool followers are mulling over whether or not they fancy Barcola or Rodrygo as potential alternate options to Isak, having already signed Wirtz, Ekitike, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Giorgi Mamardashvili, illustrates simply how far this membership has come.

The Premier League champions are in probably the most enviable of positions, but when given the decide of the bunch, Hughes may need to transfer for Rodrygo over Barcola.