Liverpool were out of sorts as they drew against struggling Manchester United at Anfield for the second season running, but Arne Slot’s side remain in a noble position at the top of the Premier League.
Six points clear of Arsenal and Nottingham Forest in joint-second (with a game in hand), the Reds know that they will only have themselves to blame if they fail in their quest for the prize.
Off-field contract distractions felt like they seeped onto the pitch as Ruben Amorim’s United called upon long-lost fluency to impress as they claimed a point off their arch-rivals, Trent Alexander-Arnold bearing the brunt of Merseyside’s reprovals.
Regardless of how these issues resolve themselves, Liverpool will need to strengthen in 2025. Hopefully, FSG succeed in tying Trent, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk down, keeping the club’s key framework in place and allowing for investment in other areas.
Liverpool targeting a new winger
As per TEAMtalk, Liverpool are keeping a close eye on Napoli superstar Khvicha Kvaratskhelia with hopes of securing a deal this year. That said, so are Manchester United.
The report claims that Slot’s side showed interest last August but ultimately kept the faith in Cody Gakpo and Luis Diaz, the latter being linked with moves to Barcelona and Paris Saint-Germain.
Kvaratskhelia earns ‘peanuts’ in Naples at £32k-per-week, and though his club are seeking to extend his stay on bumper new terms, there is an opportunity there for Liverpool to strike.
Diaz, 28 in less than a week, is contracted until 2027 but could be sold for the right price, should a new deal fail to materialise. Kvaratskhelia would be the ultimate replacement, though Napoli have placed a £90m price tag on his name, meaning Liverpool would need to break their transfer record.
What Kvaratskhelia could bring to Anfield
Described as a “phenomenon” by Italian football pundit Mina Rzouki, Kvaratskhelia is the jewel in Napoli’s crown, the poster boy now that Victor Osimhen has fled to Galatasaray on loan as he waits for a permanent transfer away.
Still only 23, the balletic winger notably ranks among the top 1% of attacking midfielders and wingers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for total shots taken, the top 9% for progressive carries and the top 18% for successful take-ons per 90, as per FBref.
A successful take-on is recorded when a player beats their opponent by directly carrying the ball past them while retaining possession.
His fleet-footedness blends perfectly with clinical offensive qualities and an authoritative aura that stems, perhaps, from being the main man for his nation.
Georgia dazzled at Euro 2024 as they reached the knockout phases and lost valiantly against eventual winners Spain, and Kvaratskhelia “lived up to his reputation” – said analyst John Walker – as the team’s talisman.
The caveat to Liverpool’s interest is of course that Diaz would need to leave for him to be welcomed to Anfield’s pitch, but given that FBref records the Colombian to be one of his most tactically similar players, there’s a good chance that he would hit the ground running under Slot’s wing.
But the Napoli sensation might actually prove to be an upgrade on the thriving Gakpo, who has been incisive in recent weeks and has four goals and an assist from his past five Premier League fixtures.
Matches (starts)
19 (11)
17 (15)
Goals
6
5
Assists
2
3
Shots (on target)*
1.7 (0.6)
2.9 (1.0)
Big chances missed
4
2
Pass completion
84%
83%
Key passes*
1.0
1.7
Dribbles*
1.1
1.1
Total duels won*
3.1
4.2
Focus your attention on Kvaratskhelia’s keen clinical edge, having missed just two big chances in Serie A this season. In fact, the 23-year-old has only missed 16 big chances since joining Napoli at the start of the 2022/23 campaign, as per Sofascore, scoring 28 goals in total.
That’s a ball-striking quality to rival Gakpo’s while bringing a more electric and dynamic approach, as far as his overall play goes. He might even be Liverpool’s best left winger since the halcyon days of Sadio Mane.
Mohamed Salah might have unbelievable potency, but Mane was every bit as deadly in one of the Premier League’s all-time great frontlines, with Jurgen Klopp even hailing his maverick as a “world-class” player. It’s something that was echoed across all of Merseyside and beyond.
Like Kvaradona, Mane boasted blistering speed and deft, artful dribbling, with an innate striker’s sense that saw him bag so many goals due to his expert movements. Moreover, he was deadly when striking on goal, only missing 13 big chances during his final Premier League campaign with the Reds, clinching 16 goals as Liverpool narrowly missed out on the title.
Across 269 Liverpool appearances, Mane, now 33 and plying his trade for Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League, scored 120 goals and supplied 42 assists, though the magnitude of his brilliance under Klopp’s wing was something not so easily defined through goal numbers, through metrics.
Kvaratskhelia could be Slot’s own version of the Senegal legend. He’s got his prime years ahead of him and has demonstrated over the past few years that he has the pace, power and potency to excel on English soil.
Liverpool have long enjoyed the fruits of high-class wingers, and though Gakpo and Diaz have been immense this season, signing Kvaratskhelia would take FSG’s project to a whole ‘nother level.
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