Liverpool were a day late and a dollar short in the Premier League title race last season, also falling to the eventual winners in the FA Cup and Europa League, but there is a sense that under Arne Slot, this talented squad can work toward an illustrious future.
Jurgen Klopp built Anfield back up last season following a disastrous landslide in form during the 2022/23 campaign, winning the Carabao Cup and restoring Liverpool's place in the Champions League with a third-place finish in the top flight.
Sporting director Richard Hughes has confirmed that he will be "opportunistic in the market". Frankly, Slot has inherited a multi-talented team but there is of course an acknowledgement that improvements could be made, it just needs to be the right signing.
One of the most pressing concerns seems to be in central defence, with Liverpool losing Joel Matip at the end of his contract last month and bearing only Ibrahima Konate and the 21-year-old Jarell Quansah as partners for Virgil van Dijk.
LOSC Lille's Leny Yoro looks destined for a date with Real Madrid, but there is an exciting claim that Liverpool might be considering moving for an alternative.
Liverpool eyeing new centre-back
According to Bayern Munich insider Christian Falk, Liverpool are considering hijacking Manchester United's move for Matthijs De Ligt.
The Netherlands international is expected to complete a transfer to Old Trafford this summer after giving the Premier League side his priority.
However, Falk confirms that Liverpool and Paris Saint-Germain are hovering in the background and are ready to pounce on any hiccups relating to the finances and structuring of the prospective Red Devils deal, with Bayern holding out for a ballpark fee of €40m (£34m).
Matthijs De Ligt's Bayern Munich career
De Ligt was captaining Ajax under the Champions League lights earlier than many of his same-age peers had learned to lace their boots, reaching the semi-finals of Europe's elite club competition in 2018/19 as the Eredivisie side's captain – a campaign that he started aged just 18.
It was no surprise that he was snapped up by one of the continent's finest outfits that summer, penning a long-term contract with Juventus for about £68m, making 117 appearances over three seasons before joining Bayern for about the same fee, hailed as a "monster signing" for the Germans by Bundesliga commentator Kevin Hatchard.
De Ligt spent the 2023/24 campaign battling against injuries that limited him to merely 16 starting berths in the Bundesliga – with his absence of authority perhaps playing into the indomitable force of Bayer Leverkusen's hands, as Xabi Alonso toppled 11 years of dominance from Die Roten and won their first top-flight title.
Regardless, the Dutchman has still managed to showcase his ball-playing and athletically robust skills. As per FBref, de Ligt currently ranks among the top 12% of central defenders across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for goals scored, the top 2% for pass completion, the top 7% for progressive passes and the top 20% for aerial duels won per 90.
For such a prodigious talent, Liverpool could revolutionise a backline that has lost some of its imperiousness over the past couple of years, emulating the triumphant former deal of bringing Van Dijk to Anfield.
What Matthijs De Ligt would bring to Liverpool
De Ligt naturally occupies the right side of the rearguard and this would make him the perfect partner for his compatriot Van Dijk. While the 32-year-old does need a successor, days away from his birthday and entering the final year of his contract at Liverpool, it wouldn't be remiss to sign a centre-half on both sides.
Matches played
36
31
Matches started
36
27
Goals
2
3
Assists
2
1
Clean sheets
9
7
Pass completion
91%
91%
Recoveries per game
4.7
4.7
Tackles per game
1.1
1.0
Clearances per game
3.9
2.6
Duels won per game
5.4 (76%)
4.7 (59%)
There's no doubt that Liverpool are shaping up to have something of a Dutch twang to them, with Van Dijk and Cody Gakpo among the first team members and Slot now at the head of the table for the Reds.
De Ligt would be a worthy addition to that burgeoning cohort, especially when looking at the table above and recognising the similarities between Van Dijk and the Allianz Arena titan.
Both players rarely dive into tackles, instead relying on their positional awareness and mobility to uphold the steeliness of the backline. De Ligt is a crisp and composed passer, and if we recall his above-noted FBref metrics, he is progressive and enterprising besides.
Liverpool could actually engineer their most transformative and impactful signing since the fateful day that Van Dijk was signed from Southampton for a record £75m fee in December 2017, since earning a deserved reputation as one of the game's highest-quality players.
Across 270 fixtures, the towering 6 foot 5 colossus has conquered it all. He's been described as "the best defender who has ever lived" by retired goalkeeper Ben Foster and proved to be the architect of Klopp's reign, with his addition taking the Anfield side from a free-flowing, frenzied-football club to a unit of remarkable pedigree, winning the Premier League, winning the Champions League.
De Ligt could prove to be the perfect partner to bounce off the veteran's skill set and restore Liverpool's defence to it's once and former power.
Konate is an admirable defender, with shocking strength and crisp, often underrated, technical qualities, but the arrival of de Ligt could provide him with a fresh challenge to overcome.
Quansah, too, is on the fast track to stardom, but he's only young, plying his trade in League One just 14 months ago. It would be ludicrous to enter the new era without bolstering a paramount position for the fluency and formidability of Slot's outfit.
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Therefore, De Ligt must be signed as the manager's own van Dijk signing. The Netherlands native could inject the requisite steel to allow Slot's team to fire into silver-laden life.