Liverpool have reportedly made an offer to sign Lorenzo Pellegrini from AS Roma but, according to La Repubblica, Spurs are also interested.
He earned mixed reviews at Liverpool but Georginio Wijnaldum’s move to PSG is a major blow to the Reds and they will need to be very careful with how they replace him.
The energy he brought to the side was impressive an his ability to look after the ball is matched only by Thiago and while the Echo reports that signing a new midfielder is not a priority this summer, I find that hard to believe.
Given how important the engine room is to Klopp’s tactical system, he will not neglect it in the transfer market after he saw how costly not replacing Dejan Lovren was this season as injuries ravaged his defence.
What do we know about Lorenzo Pellegrini?
Last week we covered a report from Corriere dello Sport that claimed that an offer has been made to sign the midfielder – it’s unclear whether or not it’s contract offer or a bid to AS Roma.
The report states that he has a €30m (£25.8m) release clause in his contract which makes signing him pretty straightforward and it would purely be a case of getting him to agree to a move to Anfield and agreeing on personal terms.
That said, Corriere dello Sport’s report goes on to say that the player wants to stay in Rome and that he is not currently considering an exit from the club – we’ll see if a chat with Jurgen Klopp changes that.
According to La Repubblica, Spurs’ new managing director of football Fabio Paratici wants to sign Lorenzo Pellegrini for new manager Paulo Fonseca and given that he just left AS Roma, he might have the upper hand in convincing the Italian midfielder to move to the Premier League.
Mundo Deportivo also reports that Barcelona have an offer of their own on the table.
Why is Pellegrini the ideal Wijnaldum replacement?
Funnily enough – he’s more like the Wijnaldum that scores loads of goals for Holland than the passive Wijnaldum that Liverpool fans are more familiar with.
If Klopp signed Pellegrini, it would indicate a change in tactical approach as the Italian is an advanced 8 or an attacking midfielder and performs best when involved in attack where his progressive passing and quick decision-making are most effective.
He’d be a superb player to have in transition as he releases the ball very quickly and is very hard to tackle as a result.
Whereas Wijnaldum is elusive on the ball, using his agility to get away from pressing midfielders, Pellegrini doesn’t give them the chance to tackle him as he plays one or two touch football as much as possible.
He typically plays in a right-sided midfield role which has been taken up by Thiago but if he moved to the left and Pellegrini was on the right, I can see him developing a fruitful partnership with Mohamed Salah.
Their AS Roma link could be useful but the Italian midfielder’s quick passing plays into Mo’s hands (or should I say feet?) perfectly as he prefers receiving the ball early so as to catch defences out before they get set in a low block.
Liverpool were very wasteful in attack this season. Even Salah was guilty of missing easy chances. Part of the issue with that is, beyond the front three, there weren’t any goals being scored by midfielders or defenders.
Alisson Becker had to score a winner against West Brom to give the Reds a chance at a top-four finish! Adding a goalscoring midfielder with a strong creative streak would do wonders for Liverpool’s overall attacking prospects.
Pellegrini got 11 goals and 9 assists this season – more than Firmino and only five fewer than Sadio Mane.