As Liverpool look to bring in another teenage talent to bolster their squad, does the recruitment of young stars represent a strategy shift?
WHERE are your current worry levels regarding the Liverpool squad?
We discussed this yesterday on The Anfield Wrap’s transfer Gutter show, and while generally I consider myself to be an eternal optimist, I did have some concerns.
The assumed position taken by the four of us on the show was that The Reds will complete moves for both Bradley Barcola and Ibrahim Mbaye from PSG, but that both make it likely that Cody Gakpo will be free to leave and Curtis Jones still seems to be in limbo.
Liverpool have already said goodbye to Mo Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate in one fell swoop this summer; therefore, any further departures feel like we’re straying dangerously close to the “not enough continuity” camp.
A new manager could be classed as the ultimate breaker of continuity, so perhaps it’s the case that the club see no issues with throwing the baby out with the bathwater for one summer and giving Andoni Iraola an all-but blank canvas to operate with.
With that in mind, there has definitely been a shift in The Reds’ recruitment strategy, which has seen them looking at a much younger age profile in the transfer market.
In Arne Slot’s first summer, when Federico Chiesa seemingly represented the only first-team signing, Rio Ngumoha was also recruited, and since then they have also brought in Giovanni Leoni, Jeremy Jacquet, Ifeanyi Ndukwe, and a few more teenagers they may have hopes of becoming bona fide first-team options in the not-so-distant future.
Of course, Ndukwe only makes that list after a breakout preseason and will have to spend a year abroad now to gain a work permit, but you take my point…
It’s not that the club were never recruiting these kinds of players in the past, but with Mbaye the latest teenager being lined up and seemingly being considered a genuine squad option, the sheer amount of youngsters in and around the first-team squad definitely represents a shift.
It’s within that number of inexperienced players that some of my fears around the squad have manifested, but it’s as much the idea of unfamiliarity breeding contempt as a vote of no confidence in these individual young talents.
Because the thing I keep struggling to detach myself from is the successful Liverpool sides of the recent past and the way they did things, or the way Arsenal are operating as the standard-setters in the league squad-wise.
Squads bulked up by experienced international footballers, usually captured at an opportunistically lower price point, making them match the FSG Moneyball style of low-risk, high-reward.
The only player in the squad right now that represents that recruitment style is the loan signing Ronald Araujo, while to differing degrees all of Kostas Tsimikas, Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa have proven themselves not to be at starting-11 level.
Perhaps, rather than a deliberate strategy shift, it’s more of a natural resetting of the squad by way of recruiting for development rather than bringing in more players in their peak years.
They are still clearly recruiting at the top end to improve the starting 11, after all, as the hopefully imminent signing of Barcola proves.
And, of course, any strategy comes with risk attached – even the £100m-plus “sure-thing” signings.
I am all in favour of not blocking pathways, but there is risk in having inexperienced players as the second options behind players with sketchy fitness records and other question marks around their levels.
Injuries can have deeper impacts at a young age as players adapt to the sheer physicality of the Premier League, while confidence can also be more fragile in the face of mistakes and poor form.
That is the highwire act Liverpool seem to be setting themselves off on, but it may just be the start of something beautiful, the start of us feeling alive and in the mix once again.
We’ve had a season of certainty last campaign, and the certainty was that we wouldn’t be winning the league, so I’d swap that for a less certain year in a heartbeat.
Unknowns ahead, but the unknowns aren’t necessarily to be feared just yet.
Let’s just hope you can win something with kids, ay?
