Zubimendi or not, Liverpool need a midfielder

Liverpool have made a strong start despite their failure to add a midfielder over the summer, but a January swoop for reinforcements is a strong possibility.

Photo: IMAGO | Anfield Index

Typically, calls for new signings are supposed to follow a bad result that has exposed an important weakness. 

Yet the reality for Liverpool is that they have had just one of those en route to winning nine of Arne Slot’s first 10 games in charge across the start of this season.

Still, this fine run of form has offered up plenty of insights into the new manager and his preferred way of working.

And it has also highlighted areas of the squad where the Reds might be short of players capable of delivering on his demands: most notably in midfield. 

At the start of the summer, it was hard to envisage Liverpool looking to strengthen in that area purely on the basis of numbers.

Yes, Thiago Alcantara was departing at the end of his contract, but the Reds had hardly looked light in the engine room during the Spaniard’s injury-hit final season at the club.

Meanwhile, Stefan Bajcetic was expected to provide a boost by returning to build on the obvious promise he had shown prior to battling with a chronic adductor issue.

And with six other first-team midfielders on the books, it seemed a little fanciful to suggest Liverpool would be desperate to add in that position.

However, any presumptions about the club’s plans for midfield were smashed when Slot arrived and immediately began to put his own stamp on things.

Firstly, it was judged that Bajcetic would be better served in getting back to his best by heading out on a season-long loan with RB Salzburg.

Then, the new manager laid a marker down in taking the very un-Jurgen Klopp decision that Wataru Endo did not fit into his plans.

Of course, the Japanese’s determination to stay and fight effectively blocked any potential sale, and if his recent quotes are anything to go by then that stance is unlikely to change before the season’s end.

But Endo’s standing in the squad is best summed up by the fact he has clocked up just three minutes of action across the Premier League and Champions League thus far. 

So, along with Bajcetic, he can effectively be discounted as a trusted option this season, the result of which is that it does not take much for Liverpool to start looking a little thin in midfield.

As much could be seen in the recent Carabao Cup win over West Ham in which a single injury to Harvey Elliott allied to Slot’s need to rest his preferred midfield trio meant he was forced to name four attackers in his starting line-up.

The fact is, were there any more fitness issues, then the Dutchman would very quickly end up relying on players he has made clear do not fit his vision.

As such, it does take a huge leap to imagine that Liverpool’s desire to add a midfielder has sustained since the summer, and that it could be acted upon when the January window opens.

Incidentally, it is interesting to note that a certain Martin Zubimendi has yet to sign the new contract that was viewed as a formality once he elected to remain at Real Sociedad in August.

Since then, the Basque club have won just two of 11 games, leaving them 15th in La Liga and staring down the barrel of an early Europa League exit.

And as much as life in the midfielder’s hometown has its appeal, you wonder whether both he and Sociedad are now beginning to think that a move would make sense sooner rather than later. 

For their part, Liverpool sources are refusing to rule out going back in for the Spain international, and no sense is given that bridges between player and club have been completely burned.

But, if there is any fear of another snub that would ruin the Reds’ January plans, then it is clear that the recruitment team’s task is to find an alternative option. 

The upheaval within that department over the summer was cited as a key reason why such secondary targets hadn’t been lined up in anticipation of a potential Zubimendi U-turn. 

And insiders also point out that all other work done on identifying elite holding midfielders in recent years had been rendered unusable by a shift in the desired profile resulting from a change in the dugout.

As the move for Zubimendi showed, Liverpool are now keen to add a tempo-setter who might well have looked out of place in a Klopp team, rather than a destroyer like past targets Romeo Lavia and Moises Caicedo.

But, while reacting speedily enough to that switch in focus proved tricky in the summer, recruitment staff have since had plenty of time to identify others capable of playing the role.

For that reason, a January swoop for such a midfielder - be that Zubimendi or an alternative - is entirely possible.

Fortunately, the emergence of Ryan Gravenberch has meant that Liverpool’s need is far less desperate than it might have seemed following the closure of the last transfer window.

But if they wish to build on Slot’s strong start, then bolstering an area he so quickly identified as in need of improvement would surely go a long way.