Anfield Watch
·20 November 2024
Anfield Watch
·20 November 2024
Liverpool are thought to be preparing a transfer offer for the player statistics show has been the most-improved in the English top flight.
Now that we’re fast approaching the halfway point of the Premier League season, some interesting statistics have emerged which seek to quantify the players who can lay claim to being the most-improved compared to their 2023/24 campaign.
Some of the players featured are having revivals later in their careers like Danny Welbeck and Alex Iwobi, and others such as Facundo Buonanotte are clearly younger players blossoming.
The Reds can lay claim to having two on the list in Mohamed Salah and Ryan Gravenberch, with the latter being perhaps the most obvious candidate for the most-improved gong.
However, Gravenberch actually places third behind Buonanotte and the winner, who is now attracting the attention of Liverpool.
Carlos Baleba is currently plying his trade for Brighton, but after a good goal-scoring outing in a loss to Chelsea and a “game-changing” display as the Seagulls came from behind to defeat Manchester City 2-1 just prior to the international break, interest in the 20-year-old Cameroonian is thought to be high.
It was well-documented how Liverpool and new sporting director Richard Hughes tried and failed to sign a midfielder last summer, with the ultimately fruitless pursuit of Martin Zubimendi an early failure for the freshly-installed transfer hierarchy.
Perhaps Baleba would be exactly the combative, all-action midfielder that would do well under head coach Arne Slot, given that his physicality and ball recovery skills fill a niche that none of the other Reds midfielders can at present.
Brighton paid French side Lille £23.5 million in summer 2023 for Baleba, so you would expect that it would require a fee almost double that for the Sussex club to sell. Given Baleba’s age and impressive statistics, it could still prove a smart move despite an invariably inflated asking price.