Liverpool hold talks to sign £80m+ Coutinho clone

Liverpool are an ambitious club, and the Reds persuasion will expect nothing less than confident title challenge next season.

However, there is still a lot of work to be done. Arsenal have claimed the Premier League title, and Arne Slot did not do enough to curry enough favour from the Liverpool fanbase to lead the coming charge.

With Andoni Iraola having replaced Slot, who spent two years at the helm following Jurgen Klopp’s decision to step down from his post, there is optimism that the Reds could bounce right back, but the severity of Liverpool’s decline across the Dutchman’s second season emphasises the need for sweeping summer changes.

Mohamed Salah‘s inimitable attacking threat is no longer harnessed by the Anfield side; Andy Robertson has also left Merseyside on a free transfer, taking his leadership skills and infectious energy to Tottenham Hotspur.

Signings, it should almost go without saying, are needed.

Liverpool held talks to sign Premier League midfielder

One thing’s for certain: Liverpool are in the market for a high-profile midfielder this summer. Uncertainty around the future of both Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones has led sporting director Richard Hughes toward a number of potential high-profile replacements.

Arsenal are currently engaged in a fencing match with Newcastle United, looking to strike and leave with Bruno Guimaraes as their prize.

However, Liverpool are also in the mix, with recent reports revealing that the Magpies skipper’s representatives have approached FSG and canvassed their client’s skill set. Whether Liverpool would do business for the £100m-rated Brazilian, however, is another matter.

Spain star Victor Munoz has already been added to Iraola’s squad, but Yan Diomande remains the ultimate prize – Salah needs replacing, after all.

How Liverpool will deal with the various creases that need ironing out remains to be seen, but as far as the midfield market goes, there is an interesting Guimaraes alternative also on the Reds’ radar.

As per Fabrizio Romano, Liverpool are interested in signing West Ham United’s Mateus Fernandes this summer, with the Portuguese talent ready to leave the London Stadium following his club’s relegation to the Championship.

Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur are battling out for Fernandes’ signature to an arena of observers, but Liverpool are also in the mix, having made a call for the 22-year-old at the end of May.

There’s no getting around it: Liverpool are not the frontrunners here.

Yet, FSG often work in the shadows, so don’t count them out of this race just yet. Fernandes’ £80m price tag might be prohibitive, but Liverpool are in for a midfielder. They need to sign someone, so why not land a rising superstar who has a bit of Phil Coutinho about him.

Why Fernandes could be a ‘mini-Coutinho’ for Liverpool

Fernandes is one of the most talented young midfielders in the world. He has just suffered his second successive relegation from the Premier League, but this does not mean that he lacks the potential to star for a club such as Liverpool.

Predicted to have the skills to become the “ultimate Premier League midfielder“, according to former Southampton star Jo Tessem, Fernandes is physical and progressive, elegant and dynamic. There is a lot to like, and you can certainly understand why he would be targeted to replace someone like Mac Allister at the heart of Liverpool’s midfield.

Fernandes is not so flamboyant or obvious in his attacking focus as someone like Coutinho, but there are similarities that could see him develop into a similar kind of player for the Reds, packing a box-to-box punch while also injecting flair and an X-factor to Iraola’s system.

Ranking highly for ball-carrying and long-passing metrics against Premier League midfielders last season, the Portugal prospect also averaged 3.07 tackles per game, emphasising an all-action ability that is beyond most of his positional peers.

Coutinho was sold to Barcelona for £142m in January 2018, when the Klopp era was really getting going. It was poignant, but transformational in Liverpool’s ascent to superstardom.

However, the rush of watching the little magician dance around Premier League pitches and curl wonderful strikes into a bulging net has remained pressed into the minds of the Liverpool fans.

He was special, and Fernandes could recreate the wow factor that was certainly absent from Slot’s Liverpool last season.

Fernandes, perhaps, is actually a more inherently complete footballer than Fernandes. He is one of the most talented midfielders in the Premier League, and he could be a real game-changer for the Anfield side next term.