Not Guehi: 93% passing, 5/7 duels - Liverpool blundered with centre-half transfer decision
Liverpool bought and sold a lot of players in the summer but selling this one was a mistake.
Making a case for the defence has become increasingly difficult for Liverpool this season as Arne Slot scratches his head about what has gone wrong.
Even in the games that the Reds have won, they have had to score more than one goal and the manager would love nothing better than a boring 1-0 win over Crystal Palace in the EFL Cup. It is never one thing that is the cause for poor performances and poor results with a mixture of new players, contract uncertainty and injuries all playing their part this season. So too has been selling a player who could have made a difference.
Liverpool shouldn’t have sold Jarell Quansah
Before the transfer window even opened it seemed a safe bet that Liverpool would sign Marc Guehi only for Richard Hughes, inexplicably, to leave it until the last hours to make an offer. By this time Giovanni Leoni had been signed from Parma and Jarell Quansah had been sold to Bayer Leverkusen. Joe Gomez was on his way to AC Milan too. It is the one position that Hughes got seriously wrong and has left Slot with a problem that he is struggling to fix.
It’s not even hindsight, Quansah shouldn’t have been allowed to leave until Guehi was signed. There was minimal difference in the respective transfer fees so it wasn’t a financial decision which makes it even more puzzling. Liverpool shouldn’t have been prioritising Ibrahima Konate who has already rejected a new contract offer, demanded £200,000 per week and is almost certain to follow Trent Alexander-Arnold to Real Madrid. Instead, Quansah should have been promoted to play alongside Virgil van Dijk with Gomez toughening up the defence by playing at right-back.
Quansah impresses for Bayer Leverkusen
Game time is the only reason why Quansah left Liverpool which makes the situation even more frustrating because the 22-year old would be getting that now in a defence that needs to go back to basics. "I have been learning from some of the best players around me at the time at Liverpool," said Quansah via ESPN about his time on Merseyside.
"Being able to do that has been so good for my career. It has always been a big part of it. At this part of my career, 22 turning 23, [in January] I need hundreds of games to be where I want to be. I think overall that's why the decision was made and why I thought going abroad was best for me." In his last outing for Leverkusen, Quansah won 5/7 ground duels, made four headed clearances and had a 93% pass success rate. The buy-back clause might be getting taken up quicker than Hughes expected.