Liverpool could reportedly be set to do battle with Real Madrid in the race to sign a prodigious Dutch starlet.
In November, Soccernews claimed that the Reds had been ‘seriously considering’ an approach to AZ Alkmaar for Kees Smit, with the midfielder understood to have ‘charmed’ Arne Slot as far back as 10 years ago.
It was written that the youngster – who turns 20 next week – would be ‘interested in a transfer’ as he seeks to compete ‘at the highest level’, and two of Europe’s most successful clubs are understood to be strongly interested in him.
Liverpool and Real Madrid could enter Kees Smit bidding war
According to the Daily Star, Liverpool are ‘set to engage in a bidding war’ for the teenager, who also has interest from Real Madrid.
AZ Alkmaar value Smit at £52m, but should a bidding war ensue, it’s viable that the successful club could end up paying even more than that in order to outbid the competition, with Newcastle also being linked with the young midfielder.
Are Liverpool likely to spend £50m+ on Smit this year?
Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman has compared the 19-year-old’s skill set to that of Barcelona star Pedri (Soccernews), and as seen in the table below (citing figures from FBref), the Dutch starlet ranks highly among positional peers in Europe for a wide range of qualities.
| Per 90 minutes | Percentile among positional peers | |
| Shot-creating actions | 4.33 | 95th (top 5%) |
| Progressive carries | 2.43 | 94th |
| Successful take-ons | 1.15 | 90th |
| Shots | 1.61 | 86th |
| Progressive passes | 6.37 | 82nd |
However, one aspect of Smit’s game which has plenty of room for improvement is his scoring output, with the central midfielder netting just four times in 59 senior appearances for AZ, along with producing only seven assists (Transfermarkt).
Also, if the youngster were to join Liverpool this year, he’d have intense competition for a starting berth against the likes of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai, all of whom are in that 23-27 age bracket and have plenty of high-level experience whilst being in (or are coming towards) their prime.
Paying in excess of £50m for a prospect who’s untested above Eredivise and Europa League level would appear to be an enormous gamble, especially when he wouldn’t be a guaranteeed starter at Anfield.
FSG surely wouldn’t want to roll over and hand Real Madrid a free run at Smit, but we imagine that other parts of the squad will take greater priority among the LFC hierarchy in January and the summer.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Barnsley press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
You know what I really think Hughes has lost the plot. Letting Semenyo go to Man City is a big/big mistake, City now have the 2 best wingers on either side and the most lethal Centre forward.
And we get the tired old excuse – oh we think we can buy someone better than Semenyo/well sorry at the price paid for him – we cannot buy better and you all know it!!!!
With his Bournemouth history Hughes should have been in for Semenyo up to his eyeballs/and frankly should have won his signature (I am yet to be given a good enough answer as to why this transfer buy did not occur!)….I have lost count at the number of good top rate transfer options we were in for and came out second best/seriously Man City got a bargain in Semenyo…we seemingly end up with either buying under age possibility future stars (most of those do not work out) or we end up paying top tote odds for attackers.
We have been defensively running the gauntlet for the past three seasons….the wheels have very nearly fallen off with injuries the TAA debacle/the Konate train wreck about to happen/Robbo in decline and what do we hear….oh yeah lets allow Man City to snap up Guehi in January. Further we still have no real defensive aggressive midfielder…oh we have pretty performers but nothing lethal like a Guimarães or a Paulinha…we won last season and could have been far more astute in our purchases/in my humble opinion. YNWA!
There is probably no trust in slot and they are saving the war chest for the next head coach.