Liverpool officially kick off their 2023/24 Premier League campaign with a trip to face Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the 13th of August and there could be a few new faces on show for the club.
Who have Liverpool signed this summer?
The Reds made their first addition of the summer transfer window last month as they signed Argentina international Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton & Hove Albion, in a deal that could eventually rise to £55m.
Jurgen Klopp followed that up with a swoop for RB Leipzig attacking midfielder Dominik Szoboszlai at the start of July. The Merseyside giants have reportedly splashed out a fee of £60m to secure the Hungary international’s services.
There could also be a departure in that area of the pitch for Liverpool as it has been reported that Brazilian enforcer Fabinho is closing in on a move to Saudi Arabian side Al Ittihad, whilst Bayern Munich are also interested in signing him.
It has been claimed that the Reds could be in line to receive £40m for the former AS Monaco star, which could help towards funding a possible replacement before the end of the window.
Who could replace Fabinho at Liverpool?
Klopp could forget all about Fabinho by striking a deal to sign Fulham defensive midfielder Joao Palhinha ahead of next season, following his impressive debut season in England.
The Daily Mail reported in June that it could take as much as £90m to snap up the Portugal international and it was recently claimed that Liverpool have considered the Portugal international as an option to bolster their midfield, although it remains to be seen how much they would be willing to pay for him.
Signing the former Sporting titan could improve the German head coach’s squad. Palhinha averaged a Sofascore rating of 7.00 across 35 Premier League starts last term, compared to the £40m-rated warrior’s score of 6.87, and caught the eye with 5.5 tackles and interceptions per game.
His 4.2 tackles per match for the Cottagers was 1.8 more than any Liverpool player in any position managed throughout the campaign and 2.4 more than Fabinho’s 1.8 per outing.
Palhinha, who was dubbed “Casemiro-esque” by journalist Zach Lowy, also won more duels per clash (8.0) than the Brazil international (3.5) and came out on top in a higher percentage of his duels (59% to 50%).
This suggests that the 28-year-old monster would be an upgrade in terms of his ability to win battles and regain possession for his side on a regular basis.
In fact, the Fulham colossus ranks in the top 1% of his positional peers across the Men’s Big Five Leagues and European competitions for tackles made per 90 (4.26) over the last 365 days – three percentiles higher than Manchester United’s Casemiro – which shows that he has been one of the best ball-winning midfielders at the top level since his arrival in England.
His instant adaptation to Premier League football was impressive and his form suggests that he could come in as a significant upgrade on Fabinho, based on the monstrous enforcer’s average performance level and defensive contributions each game in comparison to the current Liverpool man.
Therefore, Klopp could forget about the Brazilian midfielder and sanction the move to Al Ittihad with no concerns about the state of his squad by signing Palhinha to fill that role within the team.
