The Athletic have been looking at potential centre-back candidates who Liverpool could look to sign before the end of the summer transfer window, one of whom seems like he’d be a perfect fit for Jurgen Klopp at Anfield.
That man is Facundo Medina, who mightn’t be a household name to many football fans in England but has made a serious impression at Lens, who finished second in Ligue 1 last season and duly qualified for the Champions League.
The report carried out an analysis of some viable central defenders the Reds could consider, with the 24-year-old identified as someone who’d fill the left-footed niche in that part of the squad and break the opposition press with his sumptuous passing ability.
He’d also be capable of lining out at left-back, having played in the position previously, and ‘could be perfectly suited to’ Klopp’s 3-box-3 system in which he’d be the leftmost centre-back.
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When looking at Medina’s statistics from last season, it becomes very clear why he’s been cited as someone Liverpool should consider as a defensive target.
As per FBref, he ranks among the top 1% of centre-backs in Europe’s five main leagues for assists, progressive passes and progressive carries per game, the top 2% for successful take-ons and passes attempted, and the top 3% for shot-creating actions per 90 minutes.
He’s evidently a defender who’s extremely comfortable on the ball, even if he falls down in some core aspects of his position, ranking lowly for tackles, interceptions, blocks and successful aerial duels per game.
Still, as noted by The Athletic, he could act as an inverted full-back whenever Trent Alexander-Arnold is unavailable or rested, with his ‘composure and vision to drill passes into attackers floating in half spaces’ making him perfectly suited to that role – certainly much more so than Kostas Tsimikas.
Also, he carried a modest market valuation of €21.6m (£18.7m) from Football Transfers, making him a cut-price alternative to Levi Colwill, another left-footed centre-back in whom Liverpool were interested earlier this summer.
At an ideal age (24), potentially recruitable for a relatively low price, and boasting many of the traits which’d make him a perfect fit for a 3-box-3 formation, Medina has numerous ticks in his favour when it comes to viable defensive targets for the Reds to consider. What’s not to like?