'Oh my' - Jamie Carragher pinpoints area £50m Liverpool signing must improve amid intriguing West Ham remark
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Liverpool have seen out another quiet winter transfer window, making it two years in a row without any new signings. Despite the ongoing speculation over who could be in or out of Anfield, Arne Slot has kept his senior squad entirely in tact as they continue to chase down the Premier League title.
Of course, this has now opened the door to super-charged conversations about how Liverpool’s summer window will look. Trent Alexander-Arnold, Virgil van Dijk and Mohamed Salah all potentially leaving the club for free is the biggest talking point, but there’s also a lot of discussion surrounding the business Richard Hughes and co could bring in through the door.
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Hide AdJamie Carragher has been window shopping for his former side while on commentator duty recently, and admitted he has been pondering over West Ham star Lucas Paquetá.
Carragher compares Paquetá and Szoboszlai
West Ham played out a close 2-1 defeat to rivals Chelsea this week as the Blues edged the victory at Stamford Bridge. Paquetá has been a player at the forefront of plenty of praise recently and Carragher wondered whether he would be someone Liverpool might consider signing.
“I was commentating on West Ham but I was just watching Paquetá thinking 'oh my' every time he brought the ball down on his chest or his shoulder," Carragher said on The Overlap Fan Debate.
“I was actually thinking would Liverpool sign him. I know [Manchester] City did try, but I look at his lack of athleticism in some ways and think would that stop a top team [from signing him] because of what he would do off the ball?”
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Hide AdCarragher then compared Paquetá to Dominik Szoboszlai, who he admitted he is ‘not the biggest fan’ of. The Anfield icon praised the Hungarian’s athleticism but seemed to question his ability in front of goal. Liverpool have been eager to unleash a clinical goal-scoring midfielder and Szoboszlai has certainly shown flashes of this. However, his lack of goals is something on Carragher’s mind.
“He's got great athleticism. He gets talked about as our No.10 and people say he's great off the ball, but I'm thinking: 'He's the No.10, he's scored three goals',” the ex-defender said.
Carragher then outlined that he believes Slot would still prefer to have Szoboszlai on his roster, rather than Paquetá, despite the latter putting in impressive performances for West Ham.
Dominik Szoboszlai Liverpool numbers
Szoboszlai joined Liverpool shortly after Alexis Mac Allister in 2023. The Reds spent £60 million on signing the Hungarian from RB Leipzig, adding to the growing list of stars they have poached from the Bundesliga side.
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Hide AdSzoboszlai contributed seven goals and four assists in all competitions under Jurgen Klopp in his debut season. The 24-year-old is on track to better his tally this season, with four goals and five assists in all competitions. However, with just three goals coming in the Premier League, Carragher has seemingly unearthed the conversation surrounding Anfield’s midfield once again.
The Reds have a very well-stacked forward line and one of the most in-form attacks in the world. However, lacking a frequent goal-scoring midfielder is something many believe Liverpool have been missing for many years now.
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