Liverpool’s priority this summer will revolve around fixing the middle of the park, however, it has been established that potential additions to bolster the backline will also be considered.
Josko Gvardiol is one name that has been consistently linked with the Reds of late following a series of outstanding performances for club and country.
Reliable transfer news guru Florian Plettenberg added some weight to the rumours on Twitter, confirming Jurgen Klopp’s men are ‘interested’ and has been added to a list that’s sure to also be populated by the likes of Jude Bellingham, Mason Mount and Matheus Nunes.
News #Gvardiol: As reported yesterday #LFC is interested! He’s on the list. It would be a great fitting. But I’ve been told that it’s not hot at this stage. No negotiations. Leipzig wants to keep him 100 %. Release clause in summer 2024 (!) is around €110m. @SkySportDE 🇭🇷 pic.twitter.com/hv1BUedPbI
— Florian Plettenberg (@Plettigoal) March 7, 2023
Joel Matip and Joe Gomez’s futures at Anfield do come with question marks at this point in time, more so for the former whose contract is set to run out in 2024.
That would open up a potential space for the ‘excellent’ (as described by Alan Hutton for Football Insider) Croatian were we to part ways with our No.32 this summer in the interest of securing some funds.
With a release clause set at around £97.8m for 2024, however, we can fairly assume that RB Leipzig won’t be giving interested clubs a massive discount on that number a year earlier.
At a time when we’re actively considering Jude Bellingham during the same window, it’s a little difficult to see us snapping up Gvardiol too for a fee around the £100m mark, so we’d be far from surprised to see the club explore alternative options.
That all being said, it would be a huge shame to miss out on such an opportunity when a cursory look at the defender’s stats (courtesy of FBREF) illustrates what a potentially valuable addition to the squad he’d make.
The Croatian international compares favourably to Virgil van Dijk when it comes to progressive passes (91st percentile to the Dutchman’s 83rd percentile) and shot-creating actions (82nd percentile to 54th percentile).
Though, the former’s ability to comfortably bring out the ball (83rd percentile for progressive carries) suggests he’d be more suited to life as a Matip replacement – if he can drastically improve his aerial ability (17th percentile).
Where is the money coming from? If we are going to sign Bellingham for a 100m where will the money for Nunes and a couple of others coming from? Liverpool will not spend over 200m. There is nobody to sell to recoup. Kelleher might make us 20m. Nat Phillips around 10m.
Jota is going to leave – as reported by various news outlets for around 65-70m. Liverpool will also have significant wage savings from Firmino, Ox, Keita. I suspect several other players are available too including fabinho, Gomez and Matip.