Liverpool set for midfield shake-up - but will it go far enough?
The Reds are aiming to make changes in central midfield after a season in which their soft centre has cost them.
If the midfield is truly the heart of a football team, then it is perhaps no surprise that Liverpool have faltered so badly in a season in which their centre has proven soft.
Too easily passed through, bullied in duels, and unable to consistently control matches; the Reds’ engine room is a far cry from the well-oiled machine that proved foundational to Premier League success 12 months ago.
And it is for that reason that this summer’s second stage of an ongoing squad rebuild will, in part, focus on that vital area of the pitch.
Having signed a new six-year contract in March, Ryan Gravenberch is set to remain a key figure in any new-look midfield.
Still, Arne Slot must consider how to get the 23-year-old back to his best having seen his numbers for tackles, interceptions and recoveries plummet amid a complication of his role this term.
More must also be expected of Florian Wirtz, who has only occasionally sparkled during a debut campaign that has only been made tougher by the countless issues around him.
Fortunately, there are no such concerns over the season’s star man Dominik Szoboszlai, beyond the fact that the Reds have yet to make a breakthrough in attempts to tie him down to a new deal.
However, any certainty over next year’s options starts and ends with that trio, with major changes possible elsewhere.
Contract talks with Curtis Jones are understood to have effectively ceased, and it is known that he was open to a January move to Inter Milan before his boyhood club shut the door.
The Reds would bank pure profit on the midfielder under the Premier League’s new squad cost ratio rules, but replacing the sort of versatile, committed and homegrown player that can be crucial to major silverware will not be easy.
There is no doubt that the 25-year-old’s desire for more minutes will be cited should he leave as expected but, unlike in the case of Trent Alexander-Arnold’s departure, Liverpool will not be entirely blameless when it comes to this latest loss of a hugely talented academy graduate.
Ultimately, they must ask whether Jones would have been quite so eager to leave had he not been so often unfairly kept out of the side by players whose form did not merit it this season.
