Klopp needs to target Barcelona star to revive title-winning Liverpool

Tom Weber

• Updated: 18 Dec 2023 15:44 GMT
• 4 min read

An unnamed Premier League club have made an offer for Alejandro Balde, according to Spanish media.

The player, however, despite recently having been dropped by head coach Xavi, is said to be happy at Barcelona. We may or may not find out in due time exactly which Premier League side it was that approached the young Spaniard, but don't be shocked if it turns out to have been Liverpool.

On the face of it, the Reds appear well-stocked in the left-back department. In the currently injured Andrew Robertson, Jurgen Klopp still has one of Europe's best left-sided defenders at his disposal, while Kostas Tsimikas is a solid if unspectacular back-up for the Scot, as he showed in the disappointing scoreless draw with Manchester United. Tsimikas didn't put a foot wrong, yet he was also pretty ineffectual in the grand scheme of things.

The Greek was certainly not the kind of game-changer that Robertson has repeatedly shown himself to be in recent seasons. Yet the 29-year-old isn't getting any younger and Klopp's side is developing and evolving. The experiment at the back end of last season with Robertson tucking in to become a third centre-back helped to unleash Trent Alexander-Arnold in midfield, but it was also obvious that the Scot is no central defender.

It is, therefore, unsurprising that the Reds have been linked with a player like Piero Hincapie who is capable of filling exactly that role and, as FootballTransfers explained last week, the Ecuador international would be perfect for Klopp's style. However, there is also a different way to look at Liverpool's left-back conundrum.

Evolving by looking to the past

Full-backs have always played a crucial role in Jurgen Klopp's footballing philosophy. Indeed, the Reds were at their scintillating best when Robertson and Alexander-Arnold were marauding up the pitch and causing havoc with their deliveries; it won them the Champions League and their first-ever Premier League title.

Perhaps the next step in Liverpool's development could be...a step backwards. Rather than signing someone like Piero Hincapie who would allow them to shift to a situational back three, Klopp could look to the past and sign someone who could play like peak Robertson and fill that role long-term.

And this is where Alejandro Balde comes into the equation. As previously shown, data experts SciSports believe that the 20-year-old would be an ideal fit for Liverpool. Balde is much more similar to old-school Robertson than Hincapie. Rather than being a versatile defender, he's a traditional, attack-minded full-back.

Balde usually interprets his left-back position as a wing-back role and to show how similar he can be to Robertson when on form, one must only look to Barcelona's title-winning 2022/23 season when Balde was the second-best crosser in his position in LaLiga, as well as putting up good defensive numbers.

This term, Balde has struggled to recapture that form - like most of his Blaugrana teammates - but the 20-year-old remains highly-rated. SciSports believe that he has the potential to become a key player for the Reds. In fact, he is already a much better player than Tsimikas and, crucially, could become a much, much better player than Robertson such is the faith that the data experts put in him.

Klopp and company would be well advised to attempt to lure the Spaniard away from Catalunya because, paradoxical though it may seem, the next step in Liverpool's evolution could be a reversion to the style of years past.