Mateus Fernandes, Lamine Camara and Adam Wharton are three of the midfielders Liverpool could target
Mateus Fernandes, Lamine Camara and Adam Wharton are three of the midfielders Liverpool could target(Image: Getty Images (Rob Newell/CameraSport, Omar Vega, GSI/Icon Sport))
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Liverpool endured a tough season after romping to the league title last time out and it resulted in Arne Slot leaving the club. Andoni Iraola's arrival as his replacement has brought back some of the positivity but questions still remain over the makeup of the new head coach's expensively-assembled squad after the Reds splashed out a record £446million last summer.
While most of the players signed in that transfer window showed promise, there was little to no cohesion in Liverpool's system for the majority of the campaign and supporters were rightly left asking what the plan was going forward.
With Iraola in situ, that plan is now set to change. The Basque demands high intensity levels from his players and in no department last season were those levels more obviously lacking than in the midfield.
With that in mind, we picked out 10 players who could play that role - and should be on the shopping list for Richard Hughes and co this summer.
The profile
The midfield has been one of the most confusing aspects of Liverpool's squad planning over the last year. Florian Wirtz was signed to plenty of fanfare as the Reds broke their transfer record to make him the new focal point for the post-Mohamed Salah era.
But the German international has looked lost playing in multiple positions, with the protection behind him significantly lacking and relationships with the forward line hindered by the instability around him.
Alexis Mac Allister looked a shadow of the player he was the season before, easily bypassed all too often, while Ryan Gravenberch hasn't recaptured the form that was so influential in propelling Liverpool to the top of the Premier League table in the first half of the 2024-25 campaign.
Only Dominik Szoboszlai emerged with much credit, but he, too, was often played out of position at full-back - while Curtis Jones, recently preferred in that role, has been heavily linked with an exit in search of more regular starts.
Iraola tended to operate with one out-and-out winger at Bournemouth, with more of a wide midfielder profile on the other flank. That could suit Wirtz, who has recently played his best football in a free role on the left-hand side for Germany, though he could be persisted with in the No. 10 for the Redd- where Junior Kroupi thrived in the second half of the season for Bournemouth.
In either case, if Liverpool's midfield rebuild is to succeed, the right profile of player is required to complement Wirtz or Szoboszlai alongside Gravenberch, Jones or - if he can rediscover his form - Mac Allister.
The player Liverpool need should be comfortable playing in either a two or a three for maximum tactical flexibility, but should expect to most often be the more conservative player in a double pivot with the Hungarian or the Dutchman to free up Wirtz in the No. 10 position.
This player needs defensive steel above all else, especially in a more aggressive system, but also to be comfortable on the ball and play a central role in the build-up - a rare combination of traits the Reds haven't truly been able to call upon since Fabinho's prime.
That defensive side is more difficult to measure, given the defensive contributions any given player is required to perform are to a large part dependent on the style and performance of the team they play in - but we can still get a sense of a player's attributes from looking at how these stats measure up to each other.
Offensively, we have to be careful too. In terms of publicly-available stats, it's easy to look at chance creation in isolation - but that's not always what you want from a deep-lying player.
In fact, in most cases, you're going to be looking for a tempo-setter who progresses the ball effectively rather than constantly looking to play Hollywood passes.
Liverpool should be looking for the former, given Wirtz is in the team to provide the sparkle and the Reds' pursuit of wingers is likely to be focused on providing chances for Alexander Isak.
Even so, a player that can combine both - a cool head to play the right pass and keep the opposition on the back foot, coupled with a tendency to play a defence-splitting ball in the right moments - would be a valuable commodity indeed.
Honourable mentions
Aurelien Tchouameni (26) is probably the premier candidate for this role, but prising the France international away from Real Madrid looks increasingly unlikely.
Despite the reputational damage to the club that his fracas with Federico Valverde caused, Los Blancos look set to double down on Tchouameni, viewing him as a future leader, according to Madrid-based journalist Ivan Martin in OKDiario.
Of course, that could change, with Martin acknowledging that Tchouameni's future could still change if incoming manager Jose Mourinho decides the Frenchman isn't for him - in which case, Liverpool would be wise to consider returning to the table for the player they previously tried to sign before his move to the Spanish capital.
For now, though, this just looks too difficult to pull off.
Pablo Barrios (22) is a highly-promising midfielder at Atletico Madrid, ranking highly for interceptions, recoveries and duels while also serving as a capable ball-carrier and composed passer of the ball, but has a worrying record of muscle injuries that would make his signing too risky for the Reds
A potential solution in terms of leadership could have been Sporting captain Morten Hjulmand (26), whose physicality and all-round quality make him one of the best midfielders in the Portuguese top flight. However, Hjulmand's manager Rui Borges appears to have confirmed interest in the Danish international from Real Madrid (he's also got an Arsenal tattoo). Other clubs interested are said to include Manchester United (who have agreed a deal for another potential inclusion, Atalanta's Ederson), Atletico Madrid and Everton.
Finally, Chema Andres (21), a defensive midfielder trained at Real Madrid, looks an exciting talent at Stuttgart and has even been compared to Ballon d'Or winner Rodri - but he's not yet a nailed-on starter for his current club and Madrid have a buy-back option that they would likely use to scupper any opportunistic moves by European rivals.
The 10 candidates
These players were selected based on several criteria. Firstly and most obviously, I've picked players who have recently been linked with Liverpool ahead of the summer, who make up seven of the 10 by themselves: Adam Wharton, Lamine Camara, Mamadou Sangare, Mateus Fernandes, Alan Varela, Alex Scott and Angelo Stiller.
Any links that were obviously bogus or exclusively broken by an outlet with a poor record for reliability were ignored, especially where these links don't appear to have any connection to the country where a player is currently operating.
Elliot Anderson was an obvious inclusion, being the talk of the Premier League, despite no real substantive links connecting him to Liverpool - but with the Nottingham Forest midfielder a standout player this season and representing a homegrown solution, logic dictates the club's scouting department will have taken a look at him.
Khephren Thuram and Sandro Tonali, meanwhile, have been linked with the Reds in previous summers - and both could be available and/or seeking a move this summer, if reports are to be believed.
Basic stats on potential Liverpool midfield targets from Transfermarkt
Basic stats on potential Liverpool midfield targets from Transfermarkt(Image: Morgan King/Transfermarkt)
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All of these players are within the sweet spot in terms of age and experience, so to speak - ranging from 21 to 26, each of the 10 featured should be able to physically compete in the Premier League while still having plenty left in the tank to (hopefully) play for Liverpool for the next few years.
Tonali is towards the upper end of this, to be honest, having racked up more than 300 appearances at club level but - with no disrespect to Serie A - made the majority of these in a lower-intensity league than the Premier League.
With only 108 senior appearances, Camara is definitely on the more inexperienced side, but Liverpool have recently shown with the acquisitions of Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni that they're more than prepared to make what might be seen as riskier moves in terms of sample size if a player stands out enough in the data.
Passing
Liverpool's recruitment team will, of course, have access to more detailed data than what is available publicly to make more informed decisions, but we can draw some conclusions from the stats here.
Passing stats from Fotmob
Passing stats from Fotmob(Image: Morgan King/Fotmob)
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For overall passing range, Sangare and Fernandes impress, whereas for chance creation Wharton, Camara and Stiller are the standouts.
Wharton's impressive 0.49 big chances created per 90 is matched by his xA (expected assists) of 0.26 per 90, underlining the threat of his passing from deep for Crystal Palace last season.
Stiller's passing offers the most control, with his 88.1% success rate the highest in this list, but - Wharton aside, who takes more risks - the variation is not particularly large among this crop of players.
Fernandes, Sangare and Scott offer the least directly creative threat between them in terms of key passes, while Tonali's 0.1 xA per 90 is also underwhelming for a player of his ability.
One way to see how effective these players are in their passing game is to compare big chances created per 90 with overall passing accuracy.
In theory, a player who creates more big chances should be expected to have a lower pass completion rate than one who passes more conservatively, as this typically means a player who takes lots of risks in possession.
Players above the line here maintain higher pass completion rates while creating more chances - data from Fotmob
Players above the line here maintain higher pass completion rates while creating more chances - data from Fotmob(Image: Morgan King/Fotmob)
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This scatter graph shows that relationship. Players above the trend line should therefore offer 'more bang for your buck' in that they create to a greater extent than would be expected given their passing accuracy.
Indeed, Wharton, despite having the lowest passing accuracy on this list, creates the best chances through his passing. Players like Scott, Sangare and Fernandes are more conservative in their passing choices and suffer for it in terms of their creativity.
Camara and Stiller offer the best of both worlds, creating more than would be expected while maintaining high pass completion percentages.
Under Iraola, players will be encouraged to take risks, and a player like Wharton with his vision should not be discounted. With a better-drilled and more aggressive pressing structure, Liverpool shouldn't be conceding as much open space in the middle of the park to leave them as exposed from high turnovers.
But for a deeper midfielder, misdirected passes will often mean losing the ball with teammates ahead of it. Control will likely be key in order to keep the ball in the final third, where losing the ball offers an opportunity to counter-press - unlike in the centre of the pitch, where the player the Reds target should be able to hold the fort at times when committing other bodies forward.
This means passing the ball through the lines quickly, but not taking unnecessary risks. Though he is a popular candidate among supporters, this is a significant mark against Wharton - at least from my perspective.
Stiller and Camara, on the other hand, would offer incisive passing without sacrificing the control required from the profile I've defined.
Possession
In a Premier League where man-to-man pressing has become increasingly important, midfielders need to be capable of moving the ball on quickly or otherwise using their physique and technical ability to escape pressure.
They also need to arrive on time in duels, especially in an Iraola system where this trait will be vital to keeping the pressure on opponents.
Possession stats from Fotmob
Possession stats from Fotmob(Image: Morgan King/Fotmob)
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Wharton again struggles in duels compared to his peers in this list, casting more doubt over his ability to succeed in the new system, whereas Anderson and Sangare stand out when accounting for aerial duels too.
Stiller is strong at winning duels on the ground, and his 92.33 touches per 90 suggest he's more than comfortable holding the fort and dictating moves, with the same applying to Anderson.
I haven't looked at dribbling here, because - again - it's not really part of the profile I'm interested in seeing Liverpool sign. Call me old fashioned, but I need my deep-lying midfielder to prioritise the traits the Reds' other central players don't currently possess.
Gravenberch at his best is the platonic ideal of a press-resistant midfielder, and combines this with the dribbling ability and power to carry the ball up the pitch - the aspects we're not especially looking for here.
Players such as Thuram do offer this as well, which is fine, but if opting for a player like him it would require Liverpool's other deep midfielder to ease off at times, alternating with his teammate.
If trying to fit Wirtz into the midfield, having a Thuram-type next to him would almost certainly require Szoboszlai to play more conservatively, which is not something most supporters will want to see next season.
Paying close attention to how often a player is dispossessed is important when looking for a pivot player who ideally should be caught in possession as little as possible, so in this graph we're looking at how many touches a player makes before being dispossessed during a game.
Players below the trend line lose possession less than might be expected for a player making many touches during a game - data from Fotmob(Image: Morgan King/Fotmob)
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This graph works essentially the opposite way to the previous one. You would expect a player who takes more touches to be dispossessed more often, so when a player is below the trend line that shows they're better than average at avoiding being caught in possession.
Being dispossessed, in the world of football stats jargon, doesn't include situations where a player is fouled. So Angelo Stiller might not win as many fouls as Lamine Camara, but because he rarely ever loses the ball, this isn't an issue.
Stiller again is an incredible outlier, taking more touches per 90 than any other player but also rarely being dispossessed. Varela's dispossessed per 90 numbers look really impressive by themselves, but the graph shows how - when scaled up - he's actually performing on a closer level to Thuram and Tonali rather than Stiller, who's really looking good so far.
Anderson, despite his dominance in duels and similar level of involvement in possession to Stiller, loses the ball far more than anyone else on this shortlist.
It's worth pointing out he's far from just a sitter at Forest, though, and winning 2.16 fouls per 90 not only shows opponents have identified him as a player to be stopped but also that he has the capacity to use his body to his advantage.
Defending
For some, this might not be the absolute priority, but it should be. Liverpool not only looked all at sea defending transitions this season but they're also losing a first-choice centre-back with no indication that a replacement is a priority at this stage.
Of course, we'll look at defenders too later in this series, but if Iraola is indeed left with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Jacquet and Leoni to work with then getting the protection right in front of them will be crucial.
Defensive stats from Fotmob
Defensive stats from Fotmob(Image: Morgan King/Fotmob)
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Volume is hard to judge by itself when it comes to actual defenders, but if you're looking for a midfielder with defensive bite then high numbers are usually going to be better given midfielders are typically more involved in the grubbier side of the game.
Varela is clearly the least involved defensively of these players, but he's also playing for Porto - the most dominant team represented here.
Anderson, at the other end of the spectrum, needs little introduction in this respect - his monster defensive contribution numbers are the hallmark of the Premier League's recovery king.
Former Iraola charge Scott also gets through an impressive number of defensive contributions and recoveries to go alongside his strong duel numbers from the previous chart.
Recoveries are important because they allow a team to keep control in a game when they are on the attack. They are the bread and butter of more defensively-minded midfield players like Camara and Sangare, who come closest to Anderson in this respect.
One of the hallmarks of Iraola's style, though, is the timed jump from a zonal mid-block into a man-to-man pressing structure. While Slot tended to keep one midfielder back to support the defence in these situations, Iraola encourages his teams to push right up and cut off all avenues for a short pass, making for a much more watertight press than Liverpool have displayed over the last two seasons.
This means defensive-minded midfielders not only have to recover loose balls and cut out counters, but they are also required to defend on the front foot.
As such, this last graph shows the relationship between the number of times a player wins possession in the final third and the number of times they are dribbled past per 90.
Players below the trend line are dribbled past less than might be expected for a player who often wins possession in the final third - data from Fotmob
Players below the trend line are dribbled past less than might be expected for a player who often wins possession in the final third - data from Fotmob(Image: Morgan King/Fotmob)
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It's a bit trickier to draw too many conclusions from, because style plays a factor here. Both of the Ligue 1 players featured are far out ahead in terms of volume when it comes to winning possession high up the pitch - which could be interpreted as more due to a stylistic difference between leagues.
Bundesliga and Premier League players are bunched up in the middle, while Varela (Liga Portugal) is way down at the bottom in terms of winning high turnovers.
In theory though, it seems reasonable to expect that if a defensive player plays more on the front foot, they run the risk of being dribbled past on a counter-attack more often than a player whose first instinct is to cover the space and cut off passing lanes.
We're not just looking for players who never get dribbled past - unless you're van Dijk c. 2018-2020, that's not going to happen. The Premier League is high intensity and if Liverpool are going to control games and force opponents to submit, we need a midfield capable of working in tandem with the forward line to press effectively.
What we can draw from this is that Wharton is getting dribbled past a lot. None of the other Premier League players bar Anderson are winning possession in the final third as much as him, but Anderson is doing that more often and getting dribbled past less in the process.
This might be a question of team setup, but Wharton has also got the lowest duel win percentage of any of these players. There's no doubting his creativity, but pinning our hopes on Wharton restoring solidity to the midfield would be a risky business indeed.
Again, we're seeing similar players standing out in terms of efficiency - Camara and Stiller looking really good again, along with Thuram.
In terms of other outliers, Fernandes is getting dribbled past a lot for a player who isn't being tasked with pushing high quite as often. He's only 21, though.
It's worth remembering while Tonali and Stiller are frequently showing up positively in these graphs that they're two of the most experienced players on this list, and having the stamina and work rate to thrive within this structure and sustain it over multiple seasons is an equally important part of the recipe.
Scott, of course, is the one to really look at as he's been trusted in that role by Iraola before. He keeps being dribbled past to a minimum - and while he's not winning the ball in the final third frequently, we know from watching Bournemouth that he's still required to push up and defend on the front foot.
The verdict
There isn't one obvious answer here, and nor is there necessarily a correct one. As much as we can speculate based on the type of players Liverpool have targeted in the past, and the players Iraola has worked with, there is no telling that the Basque won't cook up something we haven't seen before with the players he has available - particularly if Liverpool are indeed prioritising wingers and a right-back over other positions.
However, several players jump out from what we've looked at in this article. Stiller of Stuttgart is an outlier in every metric we've zoomed in on, offering stability and control along with defensive efficiency.
The German is said to have a €36.5m release clause valid from this summer, but Stuttgart will look to buy that out for the relatively small fee of €2million and then hold out for closer to €50m
Either way, in a market where Elliot Anderson is expected to bring Nottingham Forest over £100m, Stiller would represent great value for Liverpool.
Anderson himself would be a tremendous signing with his energy and line-breaking passes, but would arguably be wasted in the deepest role in midfield and it seems unlikely that sporting director Hughes would be prepared to enter such a costly bidding war with Manchester City.
The player he is most often compared to, Wharton, clearly possesses impressive vision, creativity and defensive work rate but could struggle in a system where he is required to be more disciplined with his forward passing and strong in his duels.
Camara would offer more creativity from deep, much like Stiller, while rarely losing the ball and offering a front-footed bite that looks like it would suit Liverpool well.
At the less expansive end of the spectrum, Scott would be a solid if unspectacular operator in the position with plenty of room to grow and the added benefit of having previously worked with the new Liverpool head coach.
Fernandes would be a suitable alternative, possibly for a cheaper fee given his relegation with West Ham United last season.
Bearing the homegrown quota in mind, as well as the familiarity with Iraola's system, I'd be tempted to lean towards Scott - but Stiller is a bargain and the most complete and Camara, at 22, is probably the most exciting option in terms of his level already and how much further he could improve.
Whatever Liverpool choose to do with the midfield department, it seems unlikely we'll hear too much about it until later in the summer - barring any early moves for Jones or Mac Allister.