Despite currently having a healthy number of midfield players in their squad at the moment, some of them such as Thiago Alcantara (30), Jordan Henderson (31) and James Milner (35) make up a good portion of Liverpool’s oldest players.
With this in mind, it’s not surprising to hear that the Merseyside club have been linked with a young midfielder that could freshen up Jurgen Klopp’s squad.
What’s the news?
It has recently been reported by Calciomercato (via Sport Witness) that Liverpool, as well as fellow Premier League club Manchester City, are in the frame to sign Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Denis Zakaria.
Since joining the German club back in the 2017 summer transfer window from BSC Young Boys, the 24-year-old, who is currently valued at £24.3m according to Transfermarkt, has made 138 appearances for Monchengladbach across all competitions in which he has managed to chip in with 11 goals and eight assists in the process.
Despite predominantly playing as a defensive-midfielder, Zakaria has played as a centre-back on occasion throughout his career, which could make him the next version of current Reds midfielder Fabinho given how he featured in the centre-back position for a significant period last season.
In addition to that, the midfielder has shown that does not shirk away from the physical aspects of the game with an average of 1.8 tackles per game in the Bundesliga under his belt so far this season, which happens to more than Fabinho’s average of one tackle per game in the Premier League throughout 2021/22.
With former Monchengladbach manager Marco Rose previously describing Zakaria as a “complete” player, the 24-year-old certainly lived up to this title in his latest international appearance for Switzerland against Bulgaria on Monday night.
During that encounter he managed to make one key pass, complete 100% of dribbles he attempted, win seven of the ten duels he was involved in and make two tackles, showing how useful he can be in an attacking and defensive sense. Those statistics also proved why he’d be the ideal Fabinho successor if he arrives at Anfield.
With that in mind, signing Zakaria is definitely something that FSG should be looking to do in the future. They will, however, face stiff competition from City, who are also interested in signing the Swiss player as a potential long-term replacement for their 36-year-old midfielder Fernandinho. That serves as an added reason for Klopp and co to be first to the punch on the Gladbach dynamo.
In other news: Big positive: Liverpool handed injury boost which will surely leave fans buzzing – opinion
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