New report says Liverpool signing top Van Dijk successor is more realistic than people may think

Liverpool are flying high in the Premier League and could be set to capitalise on their early success by bolstering their backline in the next summer transfer window.

The Merseysiders have been fortunate to avoid any serious injury concerns in defence, whilst the same can’t be said elsewhere on the pitch.

Nonetheless, Arne Slot’s side would perhaps be well-advised to take their good fortune in this instance with a pinch of salt and take proactive action at the next available opportunity.

Not least of all because of the lack of genuine cover behind Virgil van Dijk in the left centre-back role.

After Virgil van Dijk: Liverpool considering Loic Bade or Goncalo Inacio transfer

That’s the word coming out of our colleagues at CaughtOffside who note that the defensive duo have caught the eyes of decision-makers at Anfield.

Goncalo Inacio has been long-linked with a Liverpool transfer, whilst Sevilla’s Loic Bade has previously been considered as a potential Virgil van Dijk successor. Though, on an initial look, it can’t be ignored that the former is far more used to playing on the left side of defence (albeit, as part of a back three).

Aged 23 and 24 years of age respectively, both centre-backs would tick boxes for the ideal age profile our recruitment team tends to prioritise for new signings.

Intriguingly, CaughtOffside‘s sources suggest Liverpool could even look to snap up the La Liga star for less than his £42m release clause. If we’re confident that Bade could genuinely fill our Dutch skipper’s boots long-term, however, you’d be hard-pressed to argue that the stated £42m fee was excessive either way.

Can Bade or Inacio be considered Virgil van Dijk replacements?

The task of finding a bona fide Virgil van Dijk successor should not be taken lightly, as for several seasons the former Southampton man has been considered near-peerless.

He’s one of the best passers of the ball, possesses superb defensive instincts and has experience marshalling one of the best backlines in the game. And that’s without mentioning his remarkable level of aerial dominance (averaging 75.9% win rate, according to FBref).

What will be instantly clear to anyone who has observed either Loic Bade (63.2% average win rate) or Goncalo Inacio (56.8%) is that neither stacks up to this particular statistic. Not that it’s all we should reduce our current captain down to, but it’s a significant part of his game that we’d be looking to throw away.

If we’re comparing traits, it would be remiss of us to ignore that Inacio likewise appears to enjoy raking long passes across the pitch (attempting 8.36 to Virgil’s 8.00 per 90) and has a comparable success rate (74.5% to Virgil’s 80.4%). Their French counterpart likewise appears encouraged to play these kinds of passes (11 per 90), though with far less success (48.5%). It goes some way, perhaps, to explain the gulf in shot-creating actions (Inacio contributes 1.67 to Bade’s 0.55 per 90) between the pair.

Loic Bade may prove to be the potentially cheaper option, but we could understand Liverpool leaning towards his Sporting Lisbon counterpart instead.

The post New report says Liverpool signing top Van Dijk successor is more realistic than people may think appeared first on The Empire of The Kop.