Liverpool’s frenetic summer transfer window is coming to a head, with deals for Alexander Isak and Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi progressing as Monday’s deadline looms.
Having won the Premier League with minimal transfer investment last season, Arne Slot’s side have spent richly across the past few months, reshaping the defensive flanks and remoulding the frontline, with Hugo Ekitike and British-record man Florian Wirtz hinting at an exciting partnership for many years to come.
Maybe Liverpool’s start to the campaign has been laden with inconsistencies and a somewhat out-of-kilter tactical layout, but this was always going to be a potential hazard at the start of Slot’s second term, with so much change and upheaval since the Premier League title was lifted in May.
One area, however, that hasn’t received much attention is the midfield. While Wirtz is something of an attacking midfielder, his attacking quality and style of play effectively see him play in and around the final third with regularity.
Would it be worth the Reds investing in their engine room before the window slams shut on Monday?
Why Liverpool could sign a midfielder
The summer of 2023 was one of significant change at Liverpool, out with the old and in with the new. So it goes. The likes of Jordan Henderson, James Milner and Fabinho, stalwarts all, departed and made way for a new wave of midfield talent.
Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo. All four have played big roles in the trophy-laden successes of recent seasons, and all four remain important members of the squad.
Gravenberch, recipient of the 2024/25 Young Player of the Year, was particularly influential in winning the Premier League, filling a void at number six and doing so with aplomb, having been peripheral across his maiden term in England.
However, the Netherlands international showed signs of burnout toward the latter end of the campaign, having started 37 matches in the top flight by Slot. Up until December, the 22-year-old didn’t miss a minute of league or Champions League action.
Endo, industrious and dependable, isn’t a starting player on the biggest occasions, and so Liverpool might want to make a move for a deep-lying rival before the window closes.
Liverpool planning move for Premier League star
According to Caught Offside, Liverpool are showing a strong interest in Crystal Palace midfielder Adam Wharton, with the multi-club chase for the England international expected to go down to the wire.
Palace, having sold Eberechi Eze to Arsenal and potentially Guehi to Liverpool, will play hardball and have listed the 21-year-old at a staggering £100m as they anticipate last-minute offers from interested parties.
Liverpool will find some rather daunting competition in their battle, with Manchester City and Real Madrid both ready to rival the Reds and sign the ball-playing specialist for themselves.
What Adam Wharton would bring to Liverpool
Injuries limited Wharton’s Premier League action last season, but his emergence onto the top-flight scene showcased his potential and then some, maybe operating with a similar quality and scope as Gravenberch in all his brilliance under Slot’s wing last year.
Matches (starts)
16 (15)
37 (37)
Goals
0
0
Assists
3
4
Touches*
49.6
66.5
Pass completion
81%
89%
Big chances created
5
3
Key passes*
1.3
0.9
Dribble success
60%
1.0
Ball recoveries*
5.3
5.2
Tackles + interceptions*
4.3
3.5
Duels (won)*
4.9 (54%)
5.0 (57%)
Wharton is silky on the ball, like Gravenberch, but he also boasts a superior range of passing, ranking among the top 8% of midfielders across Europe for shot-creating actions, the top 13% for progressive passes, the top 15% for through balls and the top 5% for ball recoveries per 90, as per FBref.
A ball recovery is defined by the number of loose balls recovered by a player.
With this in mind, he could be the perfect signing to unlock the inbound Isak, whose movements, progressiveness and deadly finishing seem a perfect fit for Wharton, playing those surgical passes between the lines with frightening consistency and accuracy.
Isak, 25, was remarked by pundit Ally McCoist last year to be the “best all-round centre-forward” in the English game. He might not have the same ridiculous ball-striking ability as Erling Haaland (who does?), but the Sweden star is undoubtedly a layered and dynamic player, offering so much more than a simple focal point from which teammates can channel their creativity.
His link-up play and intelligence, both in possession and when against the ball, are of the highest class, and there’s little to be said about Isak’s ability to ruffle the feathers of his opponents, slipping this way and that, knowing exactly when to make the right move.
Much has been said of his likeness to Ekitike, but Isak is at his core a deadly finisher, the rest simply embellishments of genuine substance, and while he would help to dynamise Liverpool’s exciting frontline, he would also serve as that perfect outlet for players like Wharton to target.
Wharton would jockey with Gravenberch for a starting berth, but we saw last term the necessity of adding such competition to the ranks, especially if Liverpool hope to wade their way into the deeper fathoms of the campaign’s various offshoots, on top of defending the Premier League title.
Described as a “passing machine” by journalist Henry Winter, Crystal Palace’s rising sensation has so much more to his game. There’s a reason that the biggest clubs across the continents are all keen, after all.
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Whether Liverpool’s pursuit proves fruitful remains to be seen, but there’s little question that Wharton has what it takes to raise the level of Slot’s midfield and feed through his skill into Isak’s path too.
