Could Pablo Berrios be joining Arne Slot at Liverpool or Enzo Maresca at Chelsea in the Premier League? | National World / Getty Imagesplaceholder image
Could Pablo Berrios be joining Arne Slot at Liverpool or Enzo Maresca at Chelsea in the Premier League? | National World / Getty Images | National World / Getty Images
Arne Slot will hope the Spain international can turn fortunes around at Anfield
“What we liked about him was how good he is on the ball, and how much game insight he has,” Slot said, as reported by This is Anfield.
“We thought, and it was true, that we would have the ball a lot in every single game, and then to have someone in front of your defence that is very comfortable on the ball would have been a good fit for us. “Especially if he’s also defensively strong enough for the league, which he’s showing now and which we also expected.”
Of course, Ryan Gravenberch and Alexis Mac Allister have been far from Liverpool’s only problem or even the primary one this season, but there’s also little doubt that the position could a refresh, and Atletico Madrid dynamo and Zubimendi clone Pablo Barrios could be just the man for the job - if The Reds can beat Chelsea to his signature.
Barrios can revive Slot’s Liverpool in both defence and attack
Atletico Madrid have an impressive recent history of no-nonsense central midfielders - think Saul, Koke or Marcos Llorente - but none of them have had the technical ability of Barrios. A tough and determined tackler who also possesses the crucial instinct to expertly time his challenges, Barrios’ DataMB radar is virtually identical to Zubimendi and he’s showcased many of the same traits that made Ryan Gravenberch such a threat last season in midfield, though making significantly more progressive passes than the latter and progressive carries than the former.
Pablo Barrios' 2025/26 key statistics compared to Martin Zubimendi's performance at Arsenal and Ryan Gravenberch in Liverpool's 2024/25 season | DataMB / National Worldplaceholder image
Pablo Barrios' 2025/26 key statistics compared to Martin Zubimendi's performance at Arsenal and Ryan Gravenberch in Liverpool's 2024/25 season | DataMB / National World | DataMB
Despite his youth, Barrios is supremely confident on the ball and in the top 6% of midfielders across Europe for successful take-ons, while if he could translate that to the Premier League he’d boast more per game than Jack Grealish, Amad Diallo, Morgan Rogers and Alejandro Garnacho. You don’t rack up over 100 senior appearances for Atletico Madrid under Diego Simeone before turning 22 without showing serious potential and he’s also already won Olympic gold and won caps in the ultra-competitive Spanish midfield.
So Barrios has the defensive ability to sure up Liverpool, and the incision by both dribbling and passing to be an asset to Slot’s side going forwards then, but can they sign him ahead of Chelsea?
Liverpool must fight off determined Blues to capture Barrios’ signature
Unsurprisingly, a player this talented hasn’t just caught the eye of Liverpool scouts. According to Mark Brus’ the Daily Briefing, Chelsea are also interested in bringing Barrios to England for €90 million (£79m), and you don’t need an insider to tell you they can be very persuasive as they showed in the summer when they signed a host of players that were also wanted by their rivals.
Liverpool found out The Blues’ pulling power first-hand in the summer when Joao Pedro picked a move to Stamford Bridge over the reigning English champions, while they also snared Arsenal target Jamie Gittens, and Manchester United target Liam Delap in another bumper transfer window.
However, the path to starting in Enzo Maresca’s midfield is littered with even more obstacles than Arne Slot’s. Moises Caicedo and Enzo Fernandez is one of the best midfield pivots not just in the Premier League but across Europe, while Reece James has stepped up into the centre of the park with aplomb on multiple occasions for club and country this season.
Andrey Santos is a Brazilian international and when fit last season Romeo Lavia was one of The Blues’ standout players, while Dario Essugo appears to be closer than expected to recovering from the injury he picked up in September while on international duty.
Additionally Curtis Jones has struggled this season and isn’t helped by being deployed at full-back, Wataru Endo hasn’t been able to build on an impressive debut campaign on Merseyside playing only 36 minutes in 2025/26 and there’s still no sign of Stefan Bajcetic who was a bit-part player anyway alongside Trey Nyoni.
For all of Liverpool’s lavish summer spending, they also had the most lucrative window of sales in club history - eclipsing even 2017 when Philippe Coutinho departed for a nine-figure fee. They didn’t even top the Premier League for net spend and while Chelsea actually made a broke even in the summer, their seasons spent outside the Champions League alongside an overall deficit in the size of the clubs mean Liverpool have enjoyed much higher revenue recently and therefore have more wiggle room in the transfer market.
So while they need to upgrade other positions, especially in defence, midfield should also be a priority and Barrios has the talent, pedigree and potential to pull the strings in turning Liverpool’s slump around.
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