Liverpool are reportedly maintaining a tally of quite a lot of defensive targets forward of the opening of the summer season switch window.
The most recent title to be mentioned across the Reds’ upcoming plans is that of Brest’s Bradley Locko.
Pete O’Rourke of Soccer Insider now claims that the Reds might doubtlessly compete for the 22-year-old’s signature alongside Aston Villa and West Ham.
Supporters could also be ready some time to see the fullback with ‘large potential’ within the well-known purple shirt, nonetheless, with the top of the 2023/24 season just below two weeks away.
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Do Liverpool want a brand new left-back?
Liverpool presently have Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas accessible within the squad as our senior left-back choices.
The previous of the 2, admittedly, lately entered his 30s and so it’s solely comprehensible why we may be taking a more in-depth have a look at some long-term choices within the function.
That’s in fact to not recommend we’d be prepared to consign the Scotland skipper to the dustbin of soccer historical past! If his final two video games for the Reds is any indication of his ongoing worth to the trigger, we’d be silly to attempt to filter him out of senior motion any time quickly.
With a contemporary pair of eyes coming into the group to exchange Jurgen Klopp, nonetheless, a revamp of the squad does appear considerably inevitable.
The arrival of a brand new face like Locko, as an example, would doubtless increase larger questions for the way forward for Kostas Tsimikas (27).
The Greek worldwide hasn’t precisely lit up the footballing world along with his performances this yr. He’s really seen his place taken by versatile fellow defender Joe Gomez on a couple of event throughout Robertson’s injury-enforced absence. Albeit, a severe damage of his personal (damaged collarbone) hardly helped issues in that regard.
Is it sufficient to see him swapped out of the squad for a youthful, hungrier fullback? Solely time will inform.
What do the stats say about Locko?
It’s value declaring that Locko hasn’t managed to higher both Tsimikas (4) or Robertson’s (5) tally of aim contributions this time period. That is regardless of that includes in each Ligue 1 recreation for Brest this time period.
That mentioned, the Frenchman’s recreation doesn’t seem to revolve round likelihood creation to the identical diploma as a Liverpool fullback.
Regardless, the 22-year-old is greater than adept at carrying possession and threatening the opposition, registering within the 94th percentile for profitable take-ons, in response to FBref. Solely Trent Alexander-Arnold comes closest along with his 88th percentile rating.
What Locko lacks in xG and xAG risk he makes up for in defensive contributions, with him having tackled 60% of dribblers confronted on common in his final 4 seasons in French top-flight soccer. It’s a comparable proportion to the averages of Robertson (52.6%), Tsimikas (66%) and our No.66 (49.1%).
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