Liverpool may have already seen perfect second…

Liverpool may have already seen perfect second midfield signing after Jude Bellingham

While the rumours of Liverpool’s interest in Jude Bellingham will run throughout 2022/23, the reality is that the Reds will need to sign other midfielders too. Even if they can secure the England international from Borussia Dortmund, he alone will not be enough.

As such, there will be stories connecting the club with numerous other men who play the same position. Napoli’s Stanislav Lobotka is one such player, and a story in TuttoMercatoWeb (via Sport Witness) has claimed “there has been an interest in him from Liverpool”.

However, other reports doing the rounds claim Lobotka is on the verge of signing a new contract, which would rule him out of a move. Either way, the 27-year-old appears to be someone who could play for a Jurgen Klopp side.

Liverpool have first-hand experience of what he can do, as he featured in their recent 4-1 loss in Naples. They might get another glimpse when Napoli visit Anfield on November 1, too, though as that could be a dead rubber for both sides that may not be the case.

Lobotka made his mark on the Reds in the first minute of their match with the Serie A leaders. He found Giovanni Di Lorenzo, who in turn released Victor Osimhen. He only hit the woodwork but the pattern for a terrible game from Liverpool’s perspective had been firmly established. The move was typical of what Lobotka offers Napoli, as a recent tweet from The Analyst highlighted.

The Slovakian international ranked joint-eighth in Italy for attacking sequence involvements, but noticeably most of his contributions came through build up, rather than creating chances directly. Across the top 10 from each of England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain, only Rodri and Joshua Kimmich had more build up involvements. What Lobotka showed in the opening 33 seconds against Liverpool encapsulated one of his strengths.

But it was an atypical performance in other ways. He made just two passes into the final third, when he has averaged 7.0 per 90 minutes in league football this season (per FBRef). The former Celta Vigo man’s total of 60 such passes puts him third in Serie A and on the fringes of the top 20 in Europe’s top five leagues.

He was also below par for pass accuracy against the Reds, but in the context of his sky-high level, that’s just splitting hairs. Lobotka currently tops Serie A with a remarkable 93.7 per cent pass completion rate in 2022/23.

As a defensive midfielder, some of his efforts are relatively simple and low risk, but across his time with Napoli he has completed 94.4 per cent of his medium (15-30 yard) passes and 87.8 per cent of his long passes (30+, per FBRef). Lobotka’s ball retention skills mean he is key to helping Napoli remain press resistant; indeed, Liverpool’s pressure success rate was approximately five per cent below average in Naples.

Their potential transfer target also prospers on the other side of that coin. He’s not the most intense presser, but with his side averaging over 58 per cent possession neither does he need to be. What stands out from Lobotka’s numbers is that he is in the top two per cent of midfielders in the big leagues for pressure success rate. This is a metric for the team regaining possession, but it illustrates that the Slovakian fits well into a pressing unit.

And he also fits well into the systems which Liverpool deploy. Manager Luciano Spalletti has fluctuated between a 4-3-3 and 4-2-3-1 this season, frameworks which Klopp has also used. Napoli played with the latter against the Reds and it will be interesting to see if Klopp goes like-for-like for the return match. Irrespective of that, Lobotka is suitable for either formation. He may not end up at Anfield but he has the skills which Liverpool will be looking for next summer.

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