Last season, Liverpool averaged 2.3 goals per game across all competitions. This season, Liverpool average 1.5 goals per game, highlighting a tear in Arne Slot's tactical fabric.
The Dutch coach has had to adapt, and Liverpool were always going to have to recalibrate after disassembling the team and piecing it back together last season.
But few - if any - of a Reds persuasion would have foreseen such a shocking decline, with Liverpool so far away from first-placed Arsenal at the top of the Premier League table.
Arne Slot at Liverpool (2024 vs 2025)
2024
27
23
3
1
2.66
73
27
Data via Transfermarkt
As you can see from the table above, Liverpool's form deteriorated massively across 2025, a far cry away from the brilliant form of the previous year.
But how can sporting director Richard Hughes put this drop-off to rights?
Liverpool lining up big-money forward
Clearly, Liverpool made a mistake when they sold Luis Diaz to Bayern Munich last summer and then decided against replacing him on the left flank.
Cody Gakpo is a prolific forward, but he can be ineffective in embracing the wider demands of a Liverpool winger, running into the right areas and stretching defenders.
It's an area Liverpool will need to fix at some point, and though FSG opted against following up initial interest in Antoine Semenyo, who has now signed for Manchester City, the curiosity does underline interest in that area.
Perhaps they were waiting for another opportunity, with TEAMtalk recently revealing that Liverpool have expressed their interest in signing Juventus winger Kenan Yildiz, who is also on Tottenham Hotspur's radar.
Juventus' Kenan Yildiz reacts
Juventus desperatelty want to extend Yildiz's stay in Turin, and they are confident that they will find a breakthrough in negotiations.
However, interest from one of the Premier League's biggest hitters could turn Yildiz's head, though Liverpool would have to stump up something in the range of £87m.
How Yildiz would fit in at Liverpool
Yildiz is only 20 years old, but he's already established himself as one of the brightest talents in Italian football, hailed, in fact, as already being "one of the best left wingers in the world" by a Serie A scout.
The Turkey international often features down the left lane but he can play centrally and on the right too, even competent as a stand-in centre-forward when needs must.
Kenan Yildiz - Career Stats by Position
Position
Attacking midfield
Left winger
Right winger
Centre-forward
Data via Transfermarkt
This season, he has scored seven goals and provided four assists across 19 matches in Serie A, principally fielded as a left winger. Sofascore reveal that he has nine big chances and won 4.4 duels per game.
Moreover, this tricky attacker, who is "100% a superstar" in the eyes of analyst Ben Mattinson, has the completeness of style to actually fill in a vacancy that was targeted for Semenyo down Anfield Road.
Indeed, Yildiz may even be a bigger talent than the Ghana international, who has posted ten goals from 10 Premier League matches for Bournemouth this season, also bagging three times in two games in other competitions for Pep Guardiola's Man City.
As per FBref, Yildiz actually ranks among the top 8% of attacking midfielders and wingers in the Italian top flight this term for progressive carries and the top 11% for shot-creating actions per 90, underscoring an energy and athleticism that rivals that of Semenyo.
A carry is considered progressive if the ball is moved towards the opponent's goal at least 10 yards from its starting point or is carried into the penalty area.
The boy has pace, alright, with speed and incisiveness in his dribbling that has led to European football writer Danny Corcoran saying he has an "Mbappe-like ability" on the ball.
In this, we can see why he could be an even better signing than Semenyo, already more incisive with his shooting and more progressive with his dribbling. He is much younger than the Citizen signing.
Yildiz Semenyo stats
This is the kind of profile Liverpool need to sign, adding a dimension to the left flank that might just restore the balance that Slot's lot have been lacking this year.
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