Liverpool have reached the business end of the 2024/25 campaign and are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League, 12 points clear of second-place Arsenal.
It would take a Herculean effort from the Gunners to topple Arne Slot’s side, and even perfection likely wouldn’t be enough, with the Reds in need of just four wins from eight remaining matches to seal the title.
A sensational campaign under the Dutch coach, who replaced Jurgen Klopp last summer, took its first bruising blows before the March international break, when successive games against Newcastle United and Paris Saint-Germain resulted in exits from the Carabao Cup and the Champions League.
However, few – if any – foresaw such performances from the Anfield side this term, such consistency, such confidence. Now, FSG need to repay Slot’s slick tactics and firm coaching to inculcate in Klopp’s squad a winning mentality that is going to result in gold.
The forthcoming summer transfer window, for sure, is going to be a busy one for Liverpool.
Liverpool's transfer priorities
In regard to the upcoming season, it feels like sorting out the contractual issues down Anfield Road marks the first port of call as far as sporting director Richard Hughes is concerned.
Hope lingers that the 32-year-old Mohamed Salah and captain Virgil van Dijk, 33, will renew their Liverpool vows and stay put for the next couple of years, though there are complexities aplenty and fears are rising.
However, multiple sources have confirmed that the Reds are going to target a striker – Newcastle’s Alexander Isak is the golden choice, albeit unlikely to leave St. James’ Park this year.
An alternative option may be pursued, but, in any case, it appears to be the end of the line for Darwin Nunez, who is reaching the end of his third campaign after a club-record £85m deal and has just 25 Premier League goals to his name.
With Trent Alexander-Arnold set to leave at the end of his contract this summer, Liverpool will surely need to target a replacement, even though Conor Bradley will look to stake his claim.
It’s not just Liverpool but the Premier League, too, whose future will lack some of the awe-inspiring creativity it’s been treated to over the past few years. In fact, with Manchester City’s Kevin De Bruyne also leaving the division in a few months, a residency for a new playmaking superstar has opened up.
He’s not a right-back, and it’s not Liverpool’s transfer priority, but Fabrizio Romano recently confirmed that FSG are in the running for one of the most exciting number ten prospects in the business.
Liverpool lining up star signing
When Romano speaks on a transfer rumour, you know it carries substance. Discussing the potential summer deals on his YouTube channel earlier this week, the esteemed transfer insider revealed Liverpool are in the running for RB Leipzig’s Xavi Simons.
While Leipzig could demand as much as €75m (roughly £63m) for the sale of the attacking midfielder, who is 21, it’s understood that Liverpool have kept themselves informed on the situation, albeit Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester United are keen too.
The Bundesliga club disappointingly sit in sixth this season and may be forced to cash in if they fail to qualify for Europe – something they are not averse to given the huge profit they could turn on a player signed from PSG for £42m.
What Xavi Simons would bring to Liverpool
Data analyst Ben Mattinson has described Simons as an “artist” in the past, and it’s clear to see why.
A diminutive player at 5 foot 6, Simons nestles into spaces in the attacking third and wreaks havoc using a number of different tools, ranking among the top 12% of positional peers across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for passes attempted, the top 10% for progressive passes and the top 8% for shot-creating actions per 90, as per FBref.
The data-driven site reveals that Premier League maestros Bruno Fernandes and Martin Odegaard are among Simons’ most comparable players, but it’s actually De Bruyne that he could emulate by ending his time in Germany and moving to the Premier League.
De Bruyne, hailed as “one of the greatest” by his Man City manager Pep Guardiola, failed to cut the mustard as an up-and-comer at Chelsea before moving to Wolfsburg, where he went from strength to strength and earned a return to English soil in 2015, for a club-record £55m fee.
Now 33, he’s about to leave the Sky Blues but does so having immortalised his name as a Premier League hall-of-famer, having won all the biggest prizes, the Champions League, and six league titles.
1.
Ryan Giggs
162
2.
Kevin De Bruyne
118
3.
Cesc Fabregas
111
4.
Wayne Rooney
103
5.
Frank Lampard
102
Simons wouldn’t be expected to reach the same inimitable heights, but if anyone’s going to emerge as the leader of this new wave of attacking talent, it might just be the Dutchman.
Sofascore record that he has notched 12 goal involvements from 19 Bundesliga matches this season, averaging 2.2 key passes and 5.3 successful duels per game.
It’s quite the impressive haul, not least because he’s indeed still only 21. Simons, so versatile, so capable across every angle of the frontline, might just be the perfect piece to fit into Liverpool’s midfield, giving it a new-found creative sheen and setting him up to take De Bruyne’s mantle.
Simons boasts creative ingenuity à la De Bruyne. He’s ferocious in his ranged attacking ability and he’s tenacious besides. Simons’ spirited performances against Real Madrid in the Champions League last season highlight a penchant for the big occasion, and there’s every chance that he would thrive in the Premier League, as the division’s replacement for the Belgian wizard.
Under the wing of Slot, his countryman, Simons could become a true superstar for Liverpool, drilling the spark into a team set to lose its chief inventive source and looking to make his name as one of the standout attacking midfielders, perhaps achieving that feat now that De Bruyne is set to drape the curtain on his career in English football.
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