Liverpool may be adamant that they are not going to make any further signings this summer but that does not mean that they are not planning for the transfer windows of the future. Far from it.
They need to have their plans in place so they can be ready to make a move when the time is right. We saw that in January, when Tottenham Hotspur’s interest in Luis Diaz prompted the Reds to sign the Colombian sooner than they likely otherwise would have.
Opportunities can present themselves in the market which are too good to turn down. If a talented young player refuses to extend his contract and becomes available at minimal expense, it would be remiss of Liverpool not to at least consider the possibility of bringing the starlet aboard.
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There may be a degree of this occurring with Aston Villa’s midfielder Carney Chukwuemeka. Back in November, it was reported that the teenager had decided to not sign a new deal, which supposedly piqued the Reds’ interest. The rumour has not sunk without trace either, as this week he has again been linked with a move to Anfield.
As Chukwuemeka’s experience of senior football has so far been limited to 433 minutes, it feels too soon for him to be making a move to Liverpool (assuming he is a player in whom they are interested). However, when he is out of contract next summer, he should have accumulated far more playing time and will have a greater body of work which the Reds’ analysts can assess.
If rumours are correct, Liverpool might be aiming to sign Jude Bellingham in 2023, a midfielder who would reportedly be ‘more than interested’ in joining the club. Other clubs will no doubt be keen to sign the England international too, though, so there’s certainly no guarantee that the Reds would be able to complete the deal.
Could Chukwuemeka be a realistic alternate option to Bellingham? It’s too early to say, in truth, but it is worth investigating how the young Villa player compares to his Borussia Dortmund counterpart in areas in which the latter is particularly strong.
Bellingham was awarded 102 free-kicks last season, the most in the Bundesliga and fourth most if players from England, France, Italy and Spain are added to the mix. As a fascinating aside, one time almost-Liverpool player Nabil Fekir is one of the trio who were ahead of him in the big league standings.
Mohamed Salah earns far less than his fair share of free-kicks, so it would not be a surprise if the Reds wanted to add someone to their roster who referees might view a little more favourably. Per FBRef, Chukwuemeka has been fouled just as often as Bellingham, while playing in a league in which free-kicks are awarded less frequently.
The Dortmund midfielder is also an excellent dribbler, who can both beat a man and get the ball to the attacking end of the pitch. He was in the top 10 players in Germany last season for both number of players dribbled past and progressive carries (those which advance the ball at least five yards forward in the front two thirds of the pitch, or into the box). While Chukwuemeka might be 0.4 per 90 minutes behind on the former metric, he holds a 0.7 advantage in the latter.
To play for Liverpool it is imperative to press well. Bellingham ranked fifth in the Bundesliga for pressures last season, and only one of the players who made more in the top five leagues (Rayo Vallecano’s Oscar Valentin) did so with a higher success rate. Yet while he made 20.8 per 90, Chukwuemeka’s Premier League average is 27.8 to date.
The only issue with these findings is that the Villa midfielder’s sample size is so small that any statistics can not be taken seriously at this point. The parallels with Bellingham are clear, though, and many clubs will be interested in securing both players next summer.
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