Anfield Central was told that Liverpool will have to pay around £50million to sign Yves Bissouma and this has scared them off for the time being but Jurgen Klopp will regret allowing him to join Arsenal.
Georginio Wijnaldum has joined PSG and Liverpool now need to sign a new midfielder and could miss out on arguably their best option.
There’s no forgetting his incredible two-goal display at Anfield against Barcelona in the Champions League semi-final second leg. The first came from a brilliant cross from Trent Alexander-Arnold and the second came from a brilliant cross from Xherdan Shaqiri.
Bissouma is arguably the player best suited to taking Wijnaldum’s role in the squad and as per Football.London, he has told his agent that he wants to join Arsenal.
BRIGHTON, ENGLAND – JANUARY 23: Yves Bissouma of Brighton & Hove Albion takes a knee ahead of the Emirates FA Cup Fourth Round match between Brighton And Hove Albion and Blackpool. (Photo by Mike Hewitt/Getty Images)
He comes with three years of Premier League experience and playing under Graham Potter, he has been able to play in a possession-based system that means switching to Liverpool’s style of play wouldn’t tricky.
Had he been playing in a team like Wolverhampton Wanderers, that operates best on the counter-attack, it would’ve been a trickier proposition transferring to a side that looks to keep the ball as much as possible.
He’s certainly not a like for like swap with Wijnaldum but he’s certainly got the ability to resist the opposition’s press as his dribbling and close control are excellent.
Liverpool saw this up close twice this season as Brighton took four out of a possible six points against the reigning champions in the Premier League.
LIVERPOOL, ENGLAND – FEBRUARY 03: Yves Bissouma of Brighton and Hove Albion is challenged by Thiago Alcantara of Liverpool as Xherdan Shaqiri of Liverpool looks on during the Premier League match between Liverpool and Brighton & Hove Albion at Anfield on February 03, 2021 in Liverpool, England. (Photo by Paul Ellis – Pool/Getty Images)
His ball-winning ability, however, is where he truly shines. Smarterscout have given him a score of 84 for his ground duels when out of possession.
This metric is specifically used to measure how good a player is at winning the ball from opposition players, as Bissouma excels at pinching the ball from attackers.
With Liverpool’s system hugely dependant on winning the ball cleanly high up the pitch before exploiting the available space, Bissouma’s tackling makes it easy to understand why he’d be top of Jürgen Klopp’s list of Wijnaldum replacements.
Then there’s his age. At 24, the Malian, born in Cote D’Ivoire, fits perfectly the transfer model that has seen Liverpool sign so many of their starters just before they peak.
LONDON, ENGLAND – MARCH 09: Yves Bissouma of Brighton and Hove Albion battles for possession with Wilfried Zaha of Crystal Palace during the Premier League match between Crystal Palace and Brighton & Hove Albion at Selhurst Park on March 09, 2019 in London. United Kingdom. (Photo by Julian Finney/Getty Images)
This has seen Klopp develop the likes of Mane, Salah and Wijnaldum into world-class stars while we’re seeing this happen again with Diogo Jota after he joined the club last summer several months before his 24th birthday.
While Liverpool have lost Wijnaldum this summer, signing Bissouma for £50m would be very good business as the former Lille star is going to be one of the best players in his position in a few years.
