Ben Jacobs has named a current Premier League midfielder as ‘one to watch’ for Liverpool fans in the ongoing transfer window.
Although other parts of the squad are likely to take precedence for Richard Hughes and Arne Slot in the coming weeks, the possibility of additions in the middle of the park hasn’t been discounted.
Speaking on his Transfers Mailbag show (via Playback), the journalist named Wolves’ Joao Gomes as a player who the Reds ‘really like’ in terms of prospective incomings.
Jacobs said: “Midfield is not as high on their list of priorities as a centre-back and wide player, but I don’t think we can entirely rule it out. Liverpool really like Joao Gomes as well, so that could be one to watch in the coming months, but for now, midfield is not the priority.”
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At 23, Gomes would offer Liverpool a long-term defensive midfield alternative to Wataru Endo, but is he someone who the Reds should be strongly pursuing this summer?
He’s won the firm approval of Wolves manager Gary O’Neil, who’s described him as a ‘super talent’ (Shropshire Star), and the Brazilian’s two-goal salvo in his team’s win over Tottenham in February showed that he can pop up with match-winning contributions.
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As per FBref, he ranks among the top 1% of positional peers in Europe’s five main leagues for tackles per game over the past 12 months with 4.35, and the top 8% for blocks per 90 with 1.73, but he lags behind the average for most other key performance metrics in that subcategory of players.
Gomes’ disciplinary record is also a concern – in 49 matches in England so far, he’s been booked 16 times (once every three games), and he was deservedly sent off for a reckless lunge just nine minutes into his debut for the Old Gold in an FA Cup tie against Brentford in January 2023.
He doesn’t strike us as a player who Liverpool should be moving heaven and earth to sign this summer, but if Hughes and Slot have seen something in him that they ‘really like’ – to use Jacobs’ words – then we can’t completely rule out the possibility of an offer making its way from Merseyside to Molineux in the coming weeks.
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