In the last year or two, Liverpool has made a habit of recruiting players who no one would have predicted. Even while Wataru Endo was clearly not the first choice, nobody expected the Reds to recruit a veteran from the lower reaches of the Bundesliga even if they had been able to finalize a deal for Moisés Caicedo or Roméo Lavia.
Similarly, when Liverpool fans begged the club to sign midfield reinforcements last season, the club instead spent big money on players like Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo. Will the Reds spring another surprise instead, as fans hope Jürgen Klopp signs a new midfielder or center-back before the transfer market Endos on Friday?
If Football Insider is to be believed, it could. According to reports, Liverpool is one of several Premier League clubs interested in signing PSV Eindhoven’s Johan Bakayoko. The Reds have an existing relationship with them after dealing with them when signing Gakpo.
With a race reportedly emerging, it may have to. Bakayoko appears to be one of Europe’s most sought-after players in the dying days of the transfer season, with Burnley already having had two bids rejected. If Liverpool wants him, it must first win the race.
While there is no doubt about the 20-year-old’s skill, as we will see, there must be some doubt about whether he is what the club currently demands. Bakayoko is a right winger, which means he will take over for Mohamed Salah, who already has a youthful deputy in the form of Ben Doak.
With Al-Ittihad aiming to make Salah the latest global superstar to join the Saudi Arabian league, Liverpool may be keeping a skilled target on its radar as a safeguard in case it loses its number 11. He may never have been as essential to the Reds as he is now, but nobody can be untouchable when the quantities of money on offer are as astounding as they are.
However, contrasting Bakayoko with Salah is intriguing. The former appears to be more of a touchline-hugging winger, a position that the Liverpool man appeared to be filling at the start of last season with limited success. Trent Alexander-Arnold’s inverted full-back role requires him to shift inside, so attacking width must come from somewhere.
So, if the PSV starlet isn’t precisely like Salah, who is he similar to? According to EuroEliteScout, Bakayoko’s statistical profile mirrors that of Neymar in 2015/16, when he played with Lionel Messi and Luis Suárez as part of possibly the only front three that could stand above Liverpool’s iconic trio.
Perhaps Total Football Analysis’ verdict is more relevant. They have compared Bakayoko to both Karim Adeyemi and Bukayo Saka, two players who have recently been connected with the Reds. As the prestigious names continue to come, so do the amazing statistics of the young Belgian international.
Before we go too far with the FBref findings, it’s important to know that they are compared to the ‘next eight’ tournaments, which are the second tier behind the major five leagues, Champions League, and Europa League. That rules out any analogies to Neymar. Nonetheless, the data portrays a picture of a player who has already outgrown the Eredivisie’s rather shallow waters.
Bakayoko is in the 90th percentile or higher for 28 different measures, including shots on target, progressive carries, and take-on success. Klopp would be aware that ‘tackles in the offensive third’ are among his elite abilities.
Last season, the PSV winger was joint-11th in the Netherlands in possession regains in the final third per 90 minutes, averaging 1.1, and his rate has risen to 1.4 in the early weeks of 2023/24. Bakayoko is an excellent dribbler with a furious work rate, and it’s easy to see why Liverpool might be intrigued, even if Salah is unlikely to leave.