Ryan Gravenberch’s start to the 2024/25 season has created a welcome dilemma for Arne Slot and Liverpool’s recruitment team.
Do the Merseysiders still need to recruit a new holding midfielder? The persistent links with failed summer transfer window target Martin Zubimendi would suggest the club is very still much of that mind.
The Anfield-based outfit does need to move cautiously, of course, as the reinvention of their 2023 signing means that they’re now obliged to consider playing pathways.
It certainly will have crossed the mind of Arne Slot, one might imagine, that Liverpool will have to welcome back promising young holding midfielder Stefan Bajcetic at some point.
Where would Zubimendi, or another deep-lying midfield signing, leave both Reds in the pecking order?
Paul Robinson suggests Liverpool should still sign Nicolo Barella
Paul Robinson is one of several pundits to applaud Gravenberch’s remarkable start to the campaign.
However, that didn’t stop him dropping former Liverpool target Nicolo Barella’s name into the conversation when discussing potential moves in the market.
“When you look at the way that Gravenberch played, the way that he stepped up in that deeper role, it’s maybe something that people, myself included, weren’t expecting to see, weren’t expecting to play in that role,” the former England goalkeeper told Football Insider.
“It’s clearly an area that they’ve identified and [Nicolo] Barella is a top player.
“You look at his quality, you look at his vision from a deep line midfield role, and he would because he’d have all the armoury in front of him, the firepower that he’s got and his ability on a football pitch would certainly add to the quality that Liverpool have got with his vision.
“Not just his disruption of play to be able to breakdown play but also with his forward passing as well.
“He’d be a great signing for anyone who gets him, Liverpool won’t be the only ones at the table if he becomes available.”
It should be borne in mind that the Italy international, 27, has recently agreed a new contract keeping him with Inter Milan until June 2029. So extracting him out of Lombardy is hardly a simple matter practically or financially.
We can understand why Barella might still appeal as an option regardless, of course, given he’s considered more of a box-to-box operator than a defensive midfielder. Thus, he might pose less of a threat to Gravenberch and Bajcetic’s potential minutes.
Liverpool could still agree Martin Zubimendi January transfer
Don’t rule out a move for Martin Zubimendi just yet.
The Spanish international has made clear on numerous occasions that he’s happy in San Sebastian, yet there’s every reason that position could quickly change.
David Lynch’s ‘Liverpool sources’ have certainly made clear that a further move for the 25-year-old isn’t off the table. However, we’re understood to be prepared to pivot to an alternative target should it become clear that a second transfer snub is a distinct possibility in the January transfer window.
Whether we’d pivot to Nicolo Barella, however, seems a little unlikely given the player’s profile. And it remains to be seen whether an opportunity would open up for the midfielder in the market.
