Liverpool are reportedly among a plethora of Premier League clubs keeping a close eye on a Brazilian winger who’s enjoyed a prolific year.
With Mo Salah’s contract situation still unresolved, there could be some rejuvenation to the Reds’ attacking options in the foreseeable future, although David Ornstein reported on Wednesday that the Egyptian is likely to be offered a new deal soon.
In the meantime, Anfield recruitment chiefs appear to have their eyes trained on a South American talent who’s grabbing attention outside of Europe.
Liverpool monitoring Gabriel Pec
According to CaughtOffside, Liverpool are joined by Premier League quintet Arsenal, Newcastle, Crystal Palace, Fulham and Wolves – along with Atletico Madrid, Inter Milan and Napoli – in keeping tabs on the progress of LA Galaxy forward Gabriel Pec.
The 23-year-old is described as a ‘highly rated’ winger who’s likely to have clubs ‘keen on securing his services’ after a magnificent 2024 season in Major League Soccer with the Los Angeles-based outfit.
It’s claimed that the Reds see him as a ‘future target’, which may suggest that they mightn’t make ‘any concrete moves’ for him imminently.
Why might Liverpool be interesed in Gabriel Pec?
Pec has been a crucial figure in helping LA Galaxy to reach the MLS Cup final, in which they take on New York Red Bulls at the weekend, with the Brazilian scoring 21 goals and supplying 18 assists in 40 matches in his first season with Steven Gerrard’s former club (Transfermarkt).
Their head coach Greg Vanney recently sang the 23-year-old’s praises by saying (via journalist Alex Ruiz): “When you have a winger that is a quadruple threat, and doesn’t just kind of have one thing, it becomes almost undefendable.”
While the forward has no experience of European football, he’s proven himself in the Brazilian Serie A and now MLS, two of the foremost domestic leagues outside of UEFA’s jurisdiction, so he’s unlikely to be fazed by trying his luck in the Premier League in the near future.
Among positional peers in what FBref terms the ‘Men’s Next 14 Competitions’ (i.e. those outside the major divisions in Europe), Pec features among the top 10% for a wide range of performance metrics in 2024, most notably shots (3.93, 99th percentile), progressive carries (6.39, 98th percentile) and non-penalty goals (0.46, 96th percentile) per 90 minutes.
The question for Liverpool is whether Arne Slot needs to add another right winger to a squad which already boasts Salah and Federico Chiesa, and that’s not to mention the on-loan Ben Doak.
The Reds probably won’t push the boat out for the LA Galaxy forward just yet, but we suspect there may be a Merseyside presence at the MLS Cup final on Saturday, which’ll provide a test of how the 23-year-old performs on the big occasion.
