The cheeky £21m transfer hijack Liverpool should make to snatch key Man Utd midfield target

Who, precisely, put the curse on Liverpool? What spell was used to prevent them from signing the defensive midfielder they so plainly need? Did some Everton fans gather together in a basement and carefully place some rams’ skulls and dribbly candles around a pentagram? Was Fabinho so appalled by his exit that he hexed his former side like some sort of budget Béla Guttmann, dooming them to never be able to replace him? However it happened – it looks like they won’t be signing Martín Zubimendi.

The Real Sociedad midfielder had been at the very top of Arne Slot’s wish list and negotiations were underway, but on Monday night it became apparent that the 25-year-old Spain international wouldn’t be on his way to Anfield after all.

Sky Sports were among the outlets reporting that Sociedad had successfully persuaded their man to stay put, supposedly twisting his arm by citing the beauty of San Sebastian (fair), the quality of its food (also fair) and even his apparent love of taking regular hikes up nearby Mount UIia (Liverpool isn’t all that far from the Lake District, Martín, you’ve been had). They’re also allegedly offering him an improved contract, which may have played some small role, but the beaches and the tapas were probably the biggest draw.

Whatever the train of thought that led Zubimendi to decide to stay put, Liverpool will be forced to look elsewhere if they want to find the defensive midfielder they need. Wataru Endo was a more than serviceable stopgap last season, but lacks the technique and passing range that the club want from their deepest midfielder. Alexis Mac Allister was admirably game when asked to play a less attacking role than he is used to, but needs to be free to get forward to realise his full potential. If Liverpool want to bridge the gap up to Manchester City and Arsenal at the top of the table, a new central midfielder who better balances the team is probably the most important purchase they could make.

Liverpool need a midfielder who can defend but who also knows how to get the ball forward quickly and accurately. They need someone who can make a tackle but who also has the energy and positional sense to join in the high press when needed. They need someone who can play in a double pivot or as a disciplined number four. Ideally, they need someone who won’t cost a small fortune, either. Happily, there is a player who fits the bill – and reports had him down as being on their radar earlier in the summer.

AS Monaco’s Youssouf Fofana is almost certainly leaving the principality very soon. With just one year left to run on his contract, the 21-cap France midfielder was left out of the squad for Monaco’s most recent pre-season match as negotiations over a move continue. As it stands, two clubs are the clear frontrunners – Manchester United and AC Milan, but it’s far from out of the question that Liverpool might enter the fray now that Zubimendi is off the menu.

Here’s how the transfer saga surrounding Fofana appears to have unfolded. Earlier in the summer, West Ham United allegedly made a €35m (£29.9m) bid which was accepted, but rejected by the player, who had ambitions of playing for a bigger club. Since then, Milan have had a lowball offer of around €20m (£17.1m) turned down and Manchester United have reportedly opened initial talks without any solid results, but with time running out it’s been claimed by Italian outlet Gazzetta dello Sport that Monaco would accept a fee of around €25m (£21.3m). Zubimendi, by comparison, would have cost more than twice as much, and Caught Offside were among the outlets who reported that Fofana was being eyed up by Liverpool earlier in the window.

There will, no doubt, be some good reasons that Liverpool decided to focus on other targets at the time, but there is also no doubt that Fofana is a quality player – you don’t get that many caps in the current French midfield if you don’t have something about you. And the 25-year-old, who started his career at Strasbourg before moving to Monaco back in 2020, has plenty about him.

A pressing midfielder with immense stamina and seemingly boundless energy, he recovered the ball more than seven times per game in Ligue 1 last season (Zubimendi registered 5.5 turnovers a game in La Liga, by comparison), is good in one-on-one situations and covers ground in a manner that’s almost identical to that of the now-unobtainable Sociedad man. But he isn’t just a good defender – his passing range is highly impressive, and while Zubimendi is a tidier and more economical, Fofana looks for dangerous forward passes far more often.

To offer up the raw numbers, Fofana made just over three more ‘progressive’ passes (balls which successfully find a team-mate either in the box or at least 10 yards downfield) than Zubimendi managed at Sociedad and, partly as a result, created twice as many shooting chances worth more than double the expected assists. He’s also a considerably better ball-carrier, beating opponents with the ball at his feet around three times as often as Zubimendi. If stats aren’t your scene, sufficed to say that Fofana tries more things with the ball while Zubimendi is perhaps a little more limited and risk-averse.

Perhaps that extra solidity and reliability is what Slot wanted, and perhaps the more pugnacious style of Fofana put Liverpool off – but even if he isn’t precisely what they wanted when they started the summer, he is a naturally aggressive, highly capable midfielder who thrives in a double pivot. That could be exactly what Liverpool need, and he wouldn’t break the bank should he fail.

Liverpool haven’t been linked seriously with Fofana for a good few weeks now – but then again, they’ve been focusing on a deal which never got done, and may well be forced to dig back into the files to pick out a Plan B. If that plan involves Fofana, however, it looks like they may have to act fast, but someone, somewhere, is going to get a bargain.