Amazing news! Brilliant left-back opens door to Liverpool transfer
An exciting left-back has seemingly opened the door for him to join Liverpool.
The rebuild at Anfield has only just begun, and one of the areas under the most scrutiny for the club's new sporting director, Julian Ward, is the full-back department.
This is to be expected.
Liverpool lost two world-class full-backs over the last few years. Replacing Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold was never going to be easy.
But now the task falls into Ward's hands. It's quite clear that while Andoni Iraola has dealt with the limitations at his disposal quite well converting Ronald Araujo into a right-back.
However, long-term the Spaniard has a completely different philosophy into how he wants his full-backs to play and only one player at the club currently aligns with that philosophy.
Why Liverpool need to buy a left-back
That one player is Milos Kerkez. He has already done it under Iraola at Bournemouth, and slowly his game is getting better and better at Liverpool - despite unfair criticism.
But behind him right now, Kerkez doesn't have any real competition. Kostas Tsimikas struggled to get game time at AS Roma last season, and he hasn't exactly caught the eye with his performances when he has come in for Kerkez this season.
Long-term, Liverpool need to find a replacement for the Greek defender. The Reds need someone who would be able to provide competition for Kerkez and also be able to deputise in his absence.
Healthy competition should always be welcome, and it could bring the best out of the Hungarian as well as whoever the club decides to bring in.
Alejandro Balde open to leaving Barcelona
One player who is being very closely followed by Liverpool is Alejandro Balde. The young left-back is very highly admired by Iraola and he is someone Liverpool made an approach for last summer.
At the time, Balde wanted to stay and fight for his place at Barcelona.
However, his stance has seemingly changed. Mundo Deportivo are reporting that Balde is increasingly starting to accept the fact that he needs to leave the Catalans in order to revive his career.
What this means is that the door for him to join Liverpool have now very much flung ajar.
And that is great news. In terms of the profile Liverpool are looking for Balde makes so much sense. He's physically strong and quick, comfortable on the ball and he is still very young which means he could significantly improve his game under Iraola.
Perhaps even a January move could be on the cards here.
