Liverpool could swap £14M fringe player in return for £52k-a-week to finally sign defensive midfielder

Liverpool could offer one of their fringe midfielders in return for £52k-a-week midfielder who could help start their rebuild in midfield.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain has been on the fringes for a couple of seasons now and has really struggled for regular game time due to injuries and the levels of their midfield.

Out of contract next summer, it feels like his time as a Liverpool player is coming to an end and the possibility of a swap deal could be a perfect deal.

In that scenario, Douglas Luiz of Aston Villa would join Liverpool with the Ox heading the other way - however, is it really a good deal?

Is a swap deal for Douglas Luiz worth it?

Liverpool could offer Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to Aston Villa in a swap deal for Douglas Luiz in January, with Steven Gerrard an admirer of the 29-year-old - according to Calciomercato, via the Liverpool ECHO.

Then Liverpool could utilise their young talents in Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho for those more advanced roles - similar to the ones that Oxlade-Chamberlain played during the 2017/18 campaigns.

His stats are fairly unremarkable - his only standouts are registering in the 77th percentile for shot-creating actions, 71st for non-penalty goals and 71st for interceptions. There are better players on the market, but he would be a good rotation option for Fabinho.

In this scenario you would have to say that Villa would have gotten the worse end of the deal; losing a starting midfielder for a low fee and receiving an injury-prone player who plays in a different position and can't physically play more than 30 games a season anymore.

Unless manager Steven Gerrard wants to do his old club a favour, it doesn't seem like much of a deal. However, they could easily just let Chamberlain leave for free in the summer and still sign Luiz in a normal deal.