Arsenal
Aston Villa
Chelsea
Crystal Palace
Everton
Fulham
Leeds United
Liverpool
Manchester City
Manchester United
Newcastle United
Nottingham Forest
Southampton
Tottenham Hotspur
West Ham United
Wolverhampton Wanderers
Opinion
Liverpool could become even better if Arne Slot signs £38m Real Madrid player who Jurgen Klopp saw on YouTube and loved
Having tied both Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk to new contracts, Liverpool will have the onus to rewarded their commitment by making moves in the summer to further elevate their current squad.
While Liverpool have an excellent roster of players at their disposal, no squad in world football can be considered flawless.
At the highest level, Arne Slot will be aware that standing still cost the Merseyside-based club as it did under Jurgen Klopp where they decided to be overly frugal in the transfer market.
The good news for the Anfield faithful is that even Salah loves Liverpool’s vision as a club and it seems unlikely that they will not try their best to win more trophies in the future as they are set to become Premier League champions.
With big names like Luis Diaz open to leaving Liverpool as well, Arne Slot’s side have the success and the reputation as a club to attract heavy-hitters — with Rodrygo Goes possibly being one man who they should look to sign.
Liverpool should try to sign Real Madrid star Rodrygo
Some might be skeptical about Liverpool’s chances of landing Rodrygo, considering he plays regularly for Real Madrid — who are widely regarded as the biggest club on the planet.
But there are several reasons why Liverpool should at least try to persuade Rodrygo to make a move to the red half of Merseyside.
Firstly, the Brazilian international, who is just 24 years old would be an upgrade on Luis Diaz — due to being four years younger, more established due to having been incredibly impactful for Real Madrid and far from versatile.
With Arne Slot ready to sell Diaz anyway, Rodrygo is a player who could provide stiff competition to Cody Gakpo, who has only had one impressive season in a Liverpool shirt. The former Santos technician, who signed for Real Madrid for €45 million (£38.5 million, ) would be an excellent tactical tool for Slot as well — being a natural left-winger who can play across the front line and remain impactful.
Jude Bellingham raved about Rodrygo by naming him as Real Madrid’s most “gifted” player — which goes to show the upside left in the two-time Champions League winner’s game as he is only 24.
Interestingly, it seems like the versatile forward’s status at Los Blancos, as revealed that Carlo Ancelotti could drop him against Barcelona in the Copa del Rey final.
In August as well, Rodrygo seemed irate all the talk was around Kylian Mbappe, Vinicius Jr and Bellingham as a duo, reminding the world not to forget about him.
Perhaps the summer might be the time for the Reds to try their luck and see whether they can genuinely sign the decorated wideman, who has the technical ability, pace, eye for goal as well as for a pass to become an undeniably elite forward.
Jurgen Klopp tried to sign Rodrygo when he saw his YouTube clips
As Bryan Mbeumo claimed, Mohamed Salah is virtually faultless but he cannot always be expected to be the Reds’ primary source of goals and assists.
Rodrygo has plenty of experience at the highest level and alongside Salah, Liverpool could have one of the most feared wide duos once again as they did when Sadio Mane was on their books.
Even Jurgen Klopp was interested in Rodrygo, as per his agent, Nick Acurri who recalled in 2020 that a director at Liverpool showed him clips of his on YouTube and he was convinced about his talent at 16 years of age: “When Rodrygo went to sign his first professional contract with Santos, aged 16, a Liverpool director called me saying that Klopp already knew the player, had seen the material, and had already come to see Rodrygo personally. He had gone on YouTube, searched ‘talents from Brazil’ and Rodrygo had appeared. Klopp liked him.”
“[Liverpool] contacted me. I went to England and sat in London – Liverpool have an office in London. I brought the proposal to Modesto, then president of Santos. Modesto didn’t accept.”
However, Rodrygo did not end up joining Liverpool at the time as Santos handed him his first professional contract: It turned out that Santos didn’t want to sell Rodrygo and instead [gave him his] first professional contract. But it was Rodrygo’s first official proposal. He was 16 and it was Liverpool.”