In the summer of 2023, Liverpool’s midfield ranks underwent major changes.
Captain Jordan Henderson and midfield colossus Fabinho both departed the club to join the ever-growing Saudi Pro League.
Word of a midfield revamp had been circulating anyway, as some of the Reds’ key players were ageing, so Jürgen Klopp knew that going into the 2023/24 season with fresh faces in the engine room was a strong possibility.
In what turned out to be Klopp’s final campaign as Liverpool boss, many predicted the club would struggle due to the midfield overhaul.
However, with signings like Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister, the Reds finished third in the Premier League table and comfortably so; they also won the EFL Cup.
One area that caused some concern in terms of long-term planning was the number six role that Fabinho vacated.
Klopp recruited then-30-year-old Wataru Endō, a defensive midfielder who had been plying his trade in the German Bundesliga for some time, and a player Klopp had been a fan of.
Despite some impressive and important contributions, Endō is not the type of player you need in the six if you want to challenge for titles—the midfielder himself has reportedly confirmed this before, stating that he thinks the club should invest in a new defensive midfielder.
Liverpool’s pursuit of a new defensive midfielder dominated much of their transfer business this summer, with Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes selecting Real Sociedad’s Martín Zubimendi as their primary target.
It initially looked as though Liverpool would get their man, but to the shock of many, Zubimendi opted to stay with the club he’s been with his entire senior career.
Hughes and Edwards were sure there were no alternatives to Zubimendi, so the Reds opted to work with what they already had, for now at least.
New Liverpool manager Arne Slot was on board with this direction, with Ryan Gravenberch impressing in the six role during pre-season; he has continued that form in the early parts of the Premier League campaign as well.
In this data analysis, we will use xGold (Total Football Analysis own player similarity tool) to try to identify any alternatives to Zubimendi that Liverpool could explore.
The analysis will review various key data points for the role in Liverpool tactics, including numerous players from around the world.
Still, this analysis will also include the statistics of some existing Liverpool options to see if the club made the right decision.
xGold Criteria
To generate a list of players from xGold, we ran a search of defensive midfielders who were at clubs in tiers 1-3 at the start of last season (data restrictions meant this was the only way of generating a list).
Tiers 1-3 include the top divisions from England, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Russia, Belgium, Turkey, the Netherlands, Portugal, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Sweden, Switzerland, Ukraine, Mexico, Argentina, and Brazil; The EFL Championship is also included.
In terms of player criteria, all non-Liverpool players included in this analysis are 26 years of age and under.
After various search tweaks and fixes, etc., we are left with a list of 47 players – 43 generated from xGold, three Liverpool players (Endo, Gravenberch, and Tyler Morton), and Zubimendi.
All data and statistics used in the analysis date from 11 August 2023 (the first day of the 23/24 EPL season) to 9 August 2024 (the day of writing).
Defensive Presence – Data Analysis
Defensive ability and contribution are the bread and butter in the role of a defensive midfielder – Fabinho’s defensive presence was one of the most feared in world football when the Brazilian was in his prime.
We kick this data analysis off by allowing you to see every player included and their respective overall defensive contributions over the past year.
As will be a constant throughout this analysis, Zubimendi, along with the aforementioned three Liverpool players, will have their data plot highlighted in pink so they can be used as a reference point.
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