Liverpool manager Arne Slot no doubt paid close attention to Trent Alexander-Arnold's performance in midfield for England on Sunday evening at Euro 2024, with the Reds' vice-captain producing a solid if unspectacular kind of display.
Alexander-Arnold, who has spent the vast majority of his professional career at right back, has long been regarded as one of football's finest ball-plying specialists, with his depth of distribution described as "world-class" by pundit Gary Neville.
It was a stodgy, disjointed collective display from the Three Lions but Alexander-Arnold with several lapses that swirled an inevitable pool of detractors into garbling on about defensive deficiencies.
Minutes played
69'
Touches
60
Accurate passes
37/42 (88%)
Shots taken
3
Key passes
0
Long balls
4/6
Dribble attempts
0/2
Tackles
1
Interceptions
1
Clearances
2
Duels won
2/5
Dribbled past
0x
Error leading to shot
1
This was not the case. The 25-year-old played a decent games and was simply part of a team effort that failed to capture the best of this abundantly talented England team.
Slot will have taken note. Will Alexander-Arnold feature regularly in the middle of the park for the Dutchman, at Anfield? Will Liverpool need to sign a new holding midfielder, an upgrade on Wataru Endo, to slot the Scouse-born superstar into the fray?
Pertinent questions no doubt. But Liverpool might actually find that the crux of the matter lies with the rearguard. Liverpool need to strengthen at the back, and there's a target with a specific type of profile that could see Alexander-Arnold flourish as the oil in the engine room.
Liverpool lining up exciting defender
According to Spanish outlet Mundo Deportivo, Liverpool have seen a €50m (£42m) bid rejected for Lille centre-back Leny Yoro. Real Madrid are also preparing to launch an offensive for the teenager and there is an air of inevitability that he will move to the Spanish capital.
Last week, The Athletic's David Ornstein revealed that Liverpool and Manchester United hold a vested interest in the Frenchman, so the rumours clearly have substance.
Yoro is out of contract in 12 months so Lille will likely be hoping to cash in while they can. If Real opt against paying for him this summer, Liverpool may be in with a real shot for a prodigious talent.
Leny Yoro's 23/24 season in numbers
Yoro broke into the Lille first team during the 2022/23 campaign, starting eight games in Ligue 1. Journalist Zach Lowy declared him to be the latest in a "treasure trove of ballers" derived from Les Dogues' academy – he was right on the money.
His performances have led talent scout Jacek Kulig to describe him as "world-class material", with such command and poise and purpose about him.
Imposing yet limber, the 6 foot 1 talent started the 2023/24 campaign aged 17 but has cemented himself as an indispensable, irrepressible member, starting 30 league matches last term, scoring two goals, keeping 13 clean sheets, completing 92% of his passes, averaging 3.9 ball recoveries and 3.0 clearances per game and succeeding in 63% of his contested duels, as per Sofascore.
Liverpool would make a statement move in bringing him to Anfield, where he would be the linchpin of Slot's backline for years to come, perhaps even being the catalyst for Alexander-Arnold's ceiling-raising success in midfield.
Why Yoro would be perfect for Alexander-Arnold
Yoro would be perfect for Alexander-Arnold. He is an immense talent but he is earning his reputation by provide cover and disengaging from high-octane situations. Somewhat languid but deceptively alert, Yoro is unmatchedly on point with his positioning and spatial awareness, and he's an excellent passer too.
As per FBref, Yoro ranks among the top 7% of centre-backs across Europe's top five leagues over the past year for pass completion. Now, why is this important vis-a-vis Alexander-Arnold?
Well, for the Three Lions star to silence the doubters and prove himself capable of maintaining a level of supreme technical quality ten or twenty metres away from his usual placement, he will need a rock-solid defence.
Liverpool, despite yielding some of the most athletic and impressive defenders in the Premier League – namely, Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate – could benefit from a more traditional, basics-to-perfection type titan. Yoro could be that guy.
Yoro does not rank highly for creative metrics. In Ligue 1 last term, the 18-year-old made just 0.1 key passes and 0.3 dribbles on average per game. But that's okay. Promising, even, for the France U21 international would counterbalance the creativity and 'modern' styles of his Liverpool positional peers and ensure that Alexander-Arnold is fed with crisp and unerring support from deep.
Alexander-Arnold's denigrators latch onto a wayward pass, or an errant long ball, and gather such things into a pile to use as the grist of their argument. For such an expressive and unfettered playmaking genius, is it really so perplexing, such a mark of inferiority in the centre of the park, that he should cede possession every once in a while?
Still, for all this, Alexander-Arnold does not have a seat in the pantheon of defensive greats; as per Sofascore, he only won 45% of his contested duels in the Premier League last season.
Also called an "11/10 talent" by Kulig, Yoro would provide a base, a steely, unflappable foundation that would bolster Anfield's rearguard, steel-enforce the hindmost part of Slot's squad.
Journalist and U23 scout Antonio Mango might have said that he sees "Van Dijk in him", but Yoro's skill set is of his own, crafted from within and now developing at a staggering rate.
It goes without saying that Liverpool will make their move if Yoro indeed becomes available. Real Madrid hold most of the cards but the game is certainly not up.
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