FSG enter race to sign “world-class” £79m star for Liverpool

You possibly can really feel the elation rippling from the pitch. It was palpable. It was a reminder of what this squad are able to doing to the perfect groups on the earth. Liverpool had overwhelmed Actual Madrid within the Champions League for the second yr working.

Following the skilled win over Aston Villa to cease the rot of a four-match skid within the Premier League, head coach Arne Slot will need to have felt his facet had turned a nook, however final weekend’s sobering loss at Manchester Metropolis confirmed the Reds have merely gone in circles.

Liverpool had been outfought throughout each inch of the Etihad Stadium, and Slot might be chagrined after being outplayed by Pep Guardiola on the tactical chessboard. Granted, he is not the primary coach to lose such a battle in opposition to the Spaniard.

However the Reds are struggling to do the fundamentals, and are such a far cry from the extent of final season, once they dispatched so many opponents and gained the league title with relative ease.

Tactical imbalances have been clear all season, and it is apparent that Liverpool are lacking Luis Diaz, who’s doing so effectively with Bayern Munich this season.

If the issues proceed for Slot, FSG could also be pressured to signal a brand new model of the Colombian.

Liverpool trying to change Diaz

Florian Wirtz’s struggles since leaving Bayer Leverkusen and becoming a member of Liverpool for £116m this summer time have been effectively documented.

The German playmaker, 22, is among the most gifted footballers on the market, however he is but to search out the physicality and fluency to achieve the Premier League, and he would possibly need to take a leaf from Diaz’s ebook in that regard.

Other than Diaz’s efficiency within the last third, he’s relentless in his work fee and fast moreover, including width and dynamism down the flank. Liverpool want a few of that, and seem to have discovered a candidate.

Certainly, based on Spanish sources, sporting director Richard Hughes has registered Liverpool’s curiosity in Actual Madrid star Rodrygo, who has fallen effectively down the pecking order underneath Xabi Alonso.

Arsenal and Chelsea are additionally eager on the Brazil worldwide, whereas Manchester Metropolis’s intrigue was confirmed by Fabrizio Romano this summer time.

Florentino Perez needs €90m (£79m) for the versatile ahead, however given his diminished function at Actual Madrid over the previous yr or so, FSG would possible push to whittle down that hefty price ticket.

What Rodrygo would provide Liverpool

Rodrygo completed the 2024/25 marketing campaign at a low ebb. A couple of phrases in the past, the 24-year-old was considered among the finest wingers on the earth, however a restricted function at Actual has precluded that tag from staying put.

This season, Alonso has handed Rodrygo solely three begins throughout La Liga and the Champions League. He hasn’t but scored, racking up two assists on the continent. This all factors towards a divorce from the Santiago Bernabeu, for this is among the most enjoyable and gifted huge forwards in Europe, and he ought to have a task at a facet that displays that.

Liverpool may provide him this. Slot needed to supply Rio Ngumoha with a pathway to the primary group in the course of the summer time, and that’s ostensibly why Diaz was in a roundabout way changed.

This has proved a mistake, with the 17-year-old as but untrusted to start out video games and have prominently.

Rodrygo has the maturity and the world expertise to not simply problem Wirtz and Cody Gakpo for a beginning berth however stake his declare for a starring function deep into the Anfield pitch.

Generally, statistics have to be considered via a wider context. Take Rodrygo’s woes within the Spanish high flight final yr, solely scoring six targets and supplying six assists throughout 30 matches.

Poor, proper? Properly, Rodrygo was solely afforded 12 begins by Carlo Ancelotti, and Sofascore information suggests he missed only one large likelihood, underscoring his scientific nature.

Moreover, the South American maverick posted six targets and assists apiece from left wing final yr, regardless of solely being handed a berth on that facet 12 instances throughout all competitions. At Liverpool, it’s the left which beckons, and there he may refashion that world-renowned standing that has been seen on the largest phases earlier than.

And even after this testing interval, Rodrygo’s underlying high quality doesn’t lie, evidenced via many tactical similarities with Diaz throughout the previous 12 months.

It is curious to notice that the tactical variations between the 2 will not be that nice. And this despite Rodrygo having fallen to the Los Blancos fringes effectively earlier than the managerial shift this summer time.

With Alonso on the helm, it is patent that Rodrygo is not going to benefit from the common minutes that his expertise deserves. In any case, Luka Modric as soon as described him as being among the many membership’s “world-class superstars”.

Diaz has discovered exceptional prolificness since switching Liverpool for Bavaria in August, and whereas such ranges had been not often sustained at Liverpool, with the Premier League notoriously troublesome, there is not any denying Liverpool miss Diaz and his athletic profile.

Rodrygo could possibly be the proper tonic to show the ship round. In any case, Alonso does not appear to need him, and Liverpool require simply the profile.

Whether or not the Reds handle to drag off an audacious winter swoop is anybody’s guess, however Premier League rivals are additionally on the hunt, and Hughes wants to drag one thing off if this season is to be considered as successful.