With uncertainty surrounding the futures of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah, it’s unsurprising that Liverpool are being linked with signing all manner of wingers and forwards. Some fresh blood in other areas of the pitch might not go amiss too though.
After all, the Reds had the fourth oldest starting XI in the 2021/22 Premier League on average. The area which could perhaps use a signing at around peak age is the midfield, which is mostly stocked with promising youngsters or veterans.
New boy Fabio Carvalho will join the former group, while James Milner has extended his contract to remain in the latter set for another season. As things stand there won’t be a midfielder at Liverpool aged between 21 and 27 when 2022/23 gets underway, though a Spanish international might be about to fill that gap.
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The man in question is Carlos Soler of Valencia, who was linked with Liverpool at the start of the season. At that time, Fichajes reported that Jurgen Klopp liked “his ability to occupy different roles within the midfielder zone.” While he most commonly plays centrally, the 25-year-old has featured on both sides of the midfield too.
Soler looks to be on the move this summer as he only has one year remaining on his current deal, and as he made his international debut in this campaign he looks ready to step up to a bigger club. It’s not immediately clear that his strengths align with Liverpool’s needs though.
For instance, Soler was one of the top chance creating midfielders from set pieces in La Liga this season. It’s a valuable skill to possess – Alex Ferguson once claimed Charlie Adam’s corners were worth £10million – but the Reds have this covered with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson. Although the Valencia man was in the top 30 players in the big leagues for out-swinging corners (which Liverpool favour) this season, Klopp’s full-backs were among the top eight.
At first glance, Soler also appears to carry a goal threat from the centre of the park. OptaJose tweeted that he was the first Valencia midfielder to hit double figures in consecutive league campaigns since Gaizka Mendieta at the turn of the millennium. However, in both seasons seven of his 11 goals came from the spot and Liverpool don’t lack for penalty takers as they proved in style in their recent cup finals.
But before we dismiss the possibility that Soler is the right man for Klopp’s squad, it’s important to remember we’ve been here before. Many, many times. There were not many Liverpool supporters who thought a cheap left-back from relegated Hull City would become one of the best in the world, yet that is exactly what occurred with Robertson after he moved to Merseyside.
And another example provides an interesting parallel with Soler. Among the 10 midfielders to whom the Spaniard has been most statistically similar over the last year (per FBRef) is Gini Wijnaldum. His time at Liverpool was always interesting from an analytical perspective as he rarely contributed much to the numbers but was clearly a key player for the team which became champions of everywhere.
Wijnaldum’s contributions were far from showy most of the time and Soler may offer similar, less heralded strengths which the team requires. The Reds love to switch play from side to side to unsettle opposition defences, and the Valencia man performs well in this regard. Among the 98 players who completed at least 75 switch passes (those which travel at least 40 yards across the middle of the pitch) in the big leagues last season, Soler was 10th for the proportion of his total passes which fell into this category. As an aside, another reported Liverpool target Jarrod Bowen was top.
This is just one metric, but don’t be surprised if the transfer analysts at Anfield have unearthed other less obvious stats which show Soler could be the man for whom Liverpool’s midfield is looking. They’ve done this sort of thing before and will no doubt do so again.
