The early indications suggest Liverpool has successfully rebuilt its midfield with its transfer business this summer. There remains one issue though.
Nobody has any concerns regarding Alexis Mac Allister or Dominik Szoboszlai, both of whom have settled swiftly and superbly. The situation in defensive midfield specifically is far less clear-cut. Wataru Endō won’t be a long-term solution no matter how successful he is — having been chosen as a quick fix after Moisés Caicedo snubbed Liverpool in favor of Chelsea — while we are all waiting to see how Jürgen Klopp intends to deploy Ryan Gravenberch.
Then there’s Stefan Bajčetić, a definite option in the ‘six’ position but only just returning from a lengthy injury absence. The young Spaniard may also find his future lies further forward in the team, which would leave the Reds still on the lookout for a defensive midfielder.
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Liverpool will continue to be linked with players for the position and the latest rumor takes us to Belgium. According to Jordi Batalla of Mundo Deportivo, Klopp’s side is one of several clubs interested in signing Arthur Vermeeren from Royal Antwerp.
He is being most strongly linked with Barcelona, against whom he should play in the Champions League in the coming week. And it’s no surprise that Xavi is looking for a long-term successor to Sergio Busquets, having had a Caicedo situation of his own on his hands this summer.
In Barcelona’s case, it was Martin Zubimendi who issued the snub. Unlike with Caicedo and Liverpool, the interest never got as far as a public bid, but perhaps only because the Real Sociedad star came out and said he would rather stay put. As a result, Xavi turned to the experience of Oriol Romeu, effectively cast in the Endō role.
It will be a while before Vermeeren can be mentioned in the same breath as Busquets, or even Caicedo for that matter. But based on some of his statistics from last season, the 18-year-old could be worth watching for Liverpool and Barcelona alike.
Vermeeren’s primary asset appears to be his tackling. In his first season of senior football he played 1,627 league minutes and won an average of 2.54 tackles per 90 minutes (per FBref). Despite only playing a little over half of the available time, his total of 46 successful tackles was enough for 10th most in the Belgian Pro League.
As Belgium is only the eighth strongest league in UEFA’s coefficient, the fact Vermeeren was competing at a relatively low level means his statistics must be treated with caution. Equally, no player in one of Europe’s biggest five leagues won tackles as often while playing at least as many minutes. To do that at aged 18 in a top eight league remains impressive.
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This helped him to record an impressive 56 per cent win rate in ground duels, the metric which covers dribbles, fouls and tackles. No Liverpool midfielder has been as successful while playing at least 50 per cent of the minutes since James Milner did so in 2018/19. Vermeeren’s dribbling helped here too, with him completing 16 out of 21 attempts and only being tackled three times in the process.
These skills appear to have helped Royal Antwerp to perform better. Their expected goal difference per 90 was 0.83 better when he played compared with when he did not, putting him second only to Alessio Castro-Montes at Gent for impact by this measure. Vermeeren’s presence also improved his side’s actual goal difference by 1.05 per 90 minutes on average.
It would be easy to assume with a young player that he may have been helped on this metric by only playing in easier matches or coming on as a substitute against tired opponents. Yet once Vermeeren made his first league start in November 2022 he was in the starting XI for every remaining match. This includes all six games in the league title play-off (for which the top four teams qualify), meaning he made a total of 10 starts against the three other best sides in Belgium last season.
Vermeeren will have two years remaining on his current contract at the end of this season, so likely wouldn’t command an enormous transfer fee. Liverpool’s interest will in part depend on how its newly signed midfielders perform over the next eight months but don’t be surprised if you frequently hear the young Belgian’s name across the course of 2023/24.
The Post Barcelona had own Moisés Caicedo this summer and it could set up $21m Liverpool transfer fight Originally Posted on www.liverpool.com