Liverpool’s only really successful season since Fabinho left was when they had Ryan Gravenberch playing as a disciplined No. 6. The club must prioritise this position again.
In the summer of 2017, Liverpool were preparing for a season of high pressing, high-scoring football, looking to build on Champions League qualification to become title challengers.
They added Mo Salah to a stacked forward line and reached the Champions League final but still finished fourth. Salah went on to become a legend, but he didn’t single-handedly fix their problems from the previous season.
When fans were excited by the prospect of Yan Diomande as a new signing, even those who rated him agreed that nobody can truly replace Mo Salah.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Sunday, May 24, 2026: Liverpool's Mohamed Salah applauds the Anfield crowd for one final time during the FA Premier League match between Liverpool FC and Brentford FC at Anfield. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
Now Diomande is (likely) off to Paris, there’s nobody out there who can single-handedly step into Salah’s shoes.
So if Liverpool have got £100 million to spend, they should spend it on the position that can single-handedly change the team: defensive midfield.
The type of holding midfielder Liverpool need
I have been a late adopter of this notion. Links to the likes of Adam Wharton seemed sensible to me; Liverpool did not replace the deep-lying progressive passing of Trent Alexander-Arnold and generally there’s an over-emphasis on carrying rather than creativity in the starting lineup.
File photo dated 10-02-2024 of Bournemouth manager Andoni Iraola who feels the fifth-round FA Cup clash against Leicester could be the ideal morale-boosting distraction for a side still looking for their first Premier League win of 2024. Issue date: Monday February 26, 2024.
Tactically, it also makes a degree of sense. Andoni Iraola’s hybrid pressing system requires his deepest midfielder to spot when the press has been triggered and jump up to complete the man-to-man marking.
This doesn’t take a proper defensive midfielder to pull off, just an intelligent reader of the game who can master the system and carry out their job within it effectively.
Whether it be a new signing like Wharton or an incumbent such as Alexis Mac Allister, Liverpool can fit a less-defensive player in here, someone who is ‘good enough’ against the ball, to enjoy the benefits of what they offer in possession – right?
The problem with this thinking, I now realise, is that this only applies to phases where the press can be choreographed and executed. Pressing opposition goal kicks or a new phase of settled possession for the opponent are two examples.
PARIS, FRANCE - Wednesday, April 8, 2026: Liverpool's Alexis Mac Allister reacts during the UEFA Champions League Quarter-Final 1st Leg match between Paris Saint-Germain FC and Liverpool FC at the Parc des Princes. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
But football isn’t straightforward like that. There are times when the ball is turned over unexpectedly, when your attack breaks down, when the opposition clear a set-piece delivery or take a quick throw-in.
It is in these scenarios that the centre of the pitch can be exposed, and in the current Premier League, every team has the will and the skill to score goals from these scenarios.
There are only a handful of players in the world who can reliably snuff out danger under these circumstances, and they earn you a handful of points every year by themselves.
Rodri helped Man City to four consecutive titles and himself to a Ballon d’Or in this exact role. Declan Rice transformed Arsenal into eventual title winners by doing this job.
It is to their great credit that Liverpool won the title in 2024/25, despite being without this profile of player since 2023.
The hole left by Fabinho
LONDON, ENGLAND - Sunday, February 27, 2022: Liverpool's Fabio Henrique Tavares 'Fabinho' celebrates after the Football League Cup Final match between Chelsea FC and Liverpool FC at Wembley Stadium. Liverpool won 11-10 on penalties after a goal-less draw. (Pic by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
The summer after the 2017/18 season, Liverpool signed Fabinho from Monaco for an initial fee of £39 million.
The Reds’ goals conceded from ‘fast breaks’ (statistical-speak for counter-attacks) fell from six in 2017/18 to zero in 2018/19, with only one conceded the following year as Liverpool stormed the league.
It was a transformative signing in the vein of Alisson or Virgil Van Dijk; one transfer solving one problem almost single-handedly.
Fabinho’s individual influence was summed up by the nickname given to him by Pep Lijnders: The Lighthouse.
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“He needs to be the one who protects us constantly, he is controlling a very important space for counter-attacks. He does that as nobody else, that’s why I called him ‘The Lighthouse’ – he guides us.”
Pep Lijnders
Pep Lijnders
Pep Lijnders speaks of Fabinho‘s importance at Liverpool.
Since the Brazilian’s departure in 2023, Liverpool have suffered – last season they conceded twice from fast breaks in the opening game alone – yet they seemingly are set to go into another campaign without a proper replacement.
Premier League options are being snapped up
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - Wednesday, March 4, 2026: Nottingham Forest's Elliot Anderson during the FA Premier League match between Manchester City FC and Nottingham Forest FC at the City of Manchester Stadium. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
This all brings us back to the £100m question, why haven’t Liverpool signed a starting-level No. 6?
It’s not been for lack of trying. Liverpool liked Declan Rice when he was at West Ham. They courted Aurelien Tchouameni before his move to Real Madrid and bid over £100m for Moises Caicedo, who chose Chelsea.
Wataru Endo did arrive as a stop-gap and performed admirably in his first season – arguably the best run of 2023/24 came when he played his way into the starting XI – but that was two years ago and at 32 years old, is no longer at the level required to be a starter.
The latest cab off the rank, Elliot Anderson, was again ‘admired’ by Liverpool, but he is also not a specialist No. 6.
Anderson topped the Premier League charts for both ball recoveries and touches of the ball last year, which speaks more to his talismanic quality for Nottingham Forest in every phase of play.
Yet the ability to consistently get the ball back is so important and in such short supply that Man City still paid a record £116m for him – a fee Liverpool did not attempt to match.
Matheus Fernandes was similarly scouted, but Liverpool did not elect to compete with Tottenham‘s £85m transfer for the recently-relegated 21-year-old.
Neither did Liverpool decide to compete with Tottenham’s £92.5m of signing Sandro Tonali from Newcastle, another physically dominant figure who can operate as the deepest midfielder.
Liverpool have identified this position and suitable targets year on year, and for understandable reasons, they have kept their powder dry each time.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND - Tuesday, September 16, 2025: Liverpool's Wataru Endo during a training session at the AXA Training Centre ahead of the UEFA Champions League match between Liverpool FC and Atlético de Madrid. (Photo by David Rawcliffe/Propaganda)
However, while each occasion has reached understandable outcomes, over time, the choice to delay making a signing has left the team with a clear weakness.
As we saw in 2024/25, a coach can mask it for a while, but without committed recruitment, it will always reappear.
Until Liverpool make it a priority to replace their lighthouse, they’ll keep partying like it’s 2017.