Klopp could end Nunez’s Liverpool career by signing Europe’s “best player”

Liverpool will feel that major strides have been taken since the summer, with Jurgen Klopp working his magic to plant the seeds for a title challenge after a miserable 2022/23 campaign, something that is firmly on track at the season’s midpoint.

In first place in the Premier League, having topped Europa League Group E and awaiting the double-legged semi-final tie in the Carabao Cup against Fulham, there is plenty to be optimistic about at Anfield, and this blooming success must be used to ensure that past mistakes do not suffer a reoccurrence.

Indeed, while the Reds made sweeping changes to the midfield last summer, replacing weary legs, it would be a feeble argument to claim change was not… overdue, with Thiago Alcantara (injury-prone) the only previous senior signing to the engine room since 2018.

Moreover, the same claim could be made to the backline, with Ibrahima Konate the last to join permanently since Virgil van Dijk’s transformative signing six years ago.

The attacking ranks, at least, have been augmented with exciting additions over the past years, but with the incredible Mohamed Salah out of contract in 2025 and feverishly pursued by the opulent Saudi Pro League, plans – however grudgingly – must be drawn up.

Liverpool transfer news – Kylian Mbappe

While it might seem ludicrous to even consider, reports continue to link Liverpool with a move for Paris Saint-Germain forward Kylian Mbappe.

Le Parisien claim that the Anfield hierarchy are ‘monitoring’ the 25-year-old’s situation in the French capital, with his contract set for expiry at the end of the season.

Mbappe’s future with PSG has long been a hot topic for debate, and while Real Madrid remain favourites to sign the 2018 World Cup winner, the allure of the Premier League remains and Liverpool are in a good position to advance negotiations, should they so wish.

Valued at £113m by Football Transfers, the France international is one of the world’s most devastating players but bringing him to Liverpool would be of astronomical cost, that said, the interest is there nonetheless.

Kylian Mbappe’s amazing goal record

He was special from the start, with Mbappe bursting onto the scene with AS Monaco as a teenager to win the Ligue 1 title and forge an impressive and high-profile run to the Champions League semi-finals (scoring in both legs against Manchester City) in 2016/17.

But this was merely the beginning, and the 75-cap Les Bleus captain would transfer to PSG on an initial season-long loan in 2017 before sealing the move for £166m the following year.

What has followed is nothing short of extraordinary, and it’s staggering to think that Mbappe still has so much more to offer to the great game, with a departure from his homeland widely agreed to be an auspicious move for the player.

Across 282 appearances for the Ligue 1 champions, Mbappe has plundered 233 goals and 100 assists, heralded as “the best player in European football” by Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti.

As per FBref, Mbappe ranks among the top 3% of forwards across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for goals, the top 2% for shot-creating actions, the top 1% for progressive carries and touches in the attacking box, the top 5% for progressive passes and the top 4% for successful take-ons per 90.

Unstoppable on his day, Mbappe is an incredible player with a myriad of tools that make him the biggest threat almost every time he takes to the pitch, but with the Champions League remaining the elusive slice of silverware yet to bless his glittering cabinet, a move away from Paris is perhaps prudent, cementing his stature as one of the greats.

While there is talk that Mbappe could be the replacement for Salah, should the Egyptian leave Merseyside this year, this is not quite accurate, with the Frenchman not best utilised on the right, instead flourishing down the left channel – where he can cut inside and wreak devastation, also effective from a centre-forward role.

So, with this in mind, a transfer could have negative consequences for Darwin Nunez, who might find his best attributes shadowed by Mbappe’s array of talents.

Bad news for Darwin Nunez

Liverpool’s club-record signing, Nunez joined from Benfica for a fee rising to £85m in June 2022 after a 34-goal campaign with the Eagles, scoring in both Champions League quarter-final legs against Klopp’s side.

While the Uruguayan is dynamic and disruptive in attacking phases, an incessant thorn in his opponents’ side, his finishing has left much to be desired and a return of 23 goals from 70 outings for the Reds is simply not good enough.

However, goalscoring is only one cog in an intricate mechanism for this explosive star, and while goals shape the discourse for elite strikers, he has been named an “agent of chaos” by journalist Theo Squires and has posted eight goals and eight assists apiece across all competitions this term.

Ranking among the top 4% of forwards for assists, the top 1% for touches in the attacking penalty area and the top 11% for shot-creating actions and progressive carries per 90, the £140k-per-week ace is creative and effective in crafting openings for his peers and himself, an improvement in precision feels like the final piece of the puzzle that would truly place him alongside Europe’s elite.

But Mbappe offers all of this at a higher level, and while signing the PSG phenom would not necessarily preclude Nunez’s chances of success at Anfield, it would make his lack of cutting-edge far more prominent on the Liverpool arrowhead.

Perhaps it is blunt to suggest that Nunez, who remains an immensely popular figure at Anfield, would sink down the pecking order if Mbappe moved to the club – indeed, the £1.19bn-per-week prodigy has tools that could even help the 24-year-old reach new heights.

But then again, with both players centre-forwards who are effective from the left too, it might derail his progress and inhibit him from reaching the apex that Klopp maintains is an attainable proposition.

There’s much to weigh up, but if the acquisition of Mbappe was green-lit as feasible, it’s hard to imagine Klopp and his transfer team wouldn’t be enticed.