Liverpool ready offer to sign £51m World Cup star

Arne Slot should be remembered fondly for his title-winning ability and his resilience during tough times, but it’s without question that Liverpool needed to make a change at the end of the 2025/26 season.

Had the Reds’ domestic rivals not performed so well out in Europe, their fifth-place Premier League finish may not have been enough to salvage Champions League qualification at the end of a long and weary year, benefiting from England’s co-efficient ranking.

Forget the lowly finish; forget Liverpool’s inability to string results together and prevent so many late collapses: Slot’s side finished 24 points worse off than the year before, when they won the title. A staggering slump.

At the epicentre of that fall-off last term was Alexis Mac Allister, but he has rebounded with a spring in his step for Argentina this summer, instrumental in taking Lionel Messi and co to a second successive final at England’s expense.

How Mac Allister is bouncing back at the World Cup

Mac Allister was one of the central culprits as Liverpool fell by the wayside last season, but he has picked himself back up this summer.

For Liverpool, it’s a tough one to take. It’s promising that Mac Allister is returning to form at the start of a new era, but somewhat perplexing to watch him play with such athleticism and such vim and vigour, having been so poor over the past year.

Ahead of the final, the 27-year-old has covered 75.5km for his nation, a greater distance than anyone else in his team.

This is the same midfielder who trudged through treacle under Slot’s management. He lacked fitness or focus or something, something, that removed him from the first-class standards he had set when joining from Brighton & Hove Albion for £35m in 2023.

All of a sudden, Mac Allister looks like an elite midfielder once again, no longer sapped of the strength and the vitality that served him so well across those first two years on Merseyside, and for Brighton and Argentina beforehand.

However, his future at Anfield remains uncertain, and with Inter Milan also making Curtis Jones their priority target this summer, there’s no question that Iraola needs a new midfielder.

Liverpool leading talks to sign World Cup midfielder

Jones wants to feature prominently for his boyhood club, and while Iraola expressed his admiration for the Scouse midfielder during his first press conference as Liverpool head coach, there are few guarantees over the England star’s future.

Liverpool need one or two additions, but with FSG’s efforts so heavily vested in strengthening Liverpool’s attack, it’s interesting to see that the Reds are ready to make a bid for Japan’s Kaishu Sano.

According to TEAMtalk, Liverpool are leading the race for the Mainz midfielder, despite interest from the likes of Arsenal and Tottenham Hotspur. They are willing to offer the German side something to the tune of €60m (£51m).

A whole host of outfits are tracking the 25-year-old, and German sources suggest that Liverpool are indeed ready to lodge an offer that would make him Mainz’s record sale.

Sano brings a flavourful and dynamic approach to the deep-lying midfield game. He would be a shrewd signing, especially considering the figures shooting about in the current midfield market.

Sano might have drawn in the plaudits for his efforts at the World Cup, but in truth, his performances for Mainz last season in the Bundesliga were even more impressive, with his physicality and intensity and hunger to win the ball making him a real force of nature.

Sano’s speed in the duel is one of his more underrated elements. Certainly, in that regard, he eclipses the version of Mac Allister who struggled through the 2025/26 season. He is a steady rhythm-maker, intuitive in completing his midfield tasks.

While Mac Allister is showing signs of revival this summer, there’s no question that continuing with him as the beating heart of Liverpool’s midfield would be somewhat risky. Iraola’s ‘rock and roll’ brand of football can be unforgiving, and it will require far greater fitness levels than the Reds produced last year.

Sano would be perfect in helping Iraola achieve his goals from the get-go. The interest in his signature is only going to increase over the coming weeks, and given the importance of a fast start at the advent of an exciting new era, the Japanese would be an excellent addition.