Waiting would benefit Liverpool – there isn’t room for Denis Zakaria

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Liverpool should wait for Denis Zakaria – if their current players allow them to. The Reds supposedly want the Swiss midfielder.

Gazzetta Dello Sport claims Liverpool want Denis Zakaria. In fact, they say the Reds lead the charge for the Borussia Monchengladbach man.

Zakaria is in an interesting position, however, as someone whose contract expires at the end of the season. That means he’s available for free and teams can negotiate with him from January.

But Gladbach are apparently open to selling early, allowing them to receive a fee for the 25-year-old. That fee could be around £8.5m for any club that wants Zakaria early.

And Liverpool may be that club. Gini Wijnaldum left in the summer, of course, and they never actually replaced him.

That left a gap in the squad this season and it’s one we’ve really seen at times. Liverpool lost one of their most reliable players and someone who could do pretty much every midfield job.

Wijnaldum’s exit leaves Liverpool with a mix of specialists and more attacking players. While that has its benefits, it’s a change from the winning formula of the last few years.

As we covered here, Zakaria does do a lot of what Wijnaldum did. He boasts a similar passing percentage, for instance, and can win tackles, interceptions and move the ball forward.

£8.5m for a decent Wijnaldum replacement is a potential bargain, in all truth. And yet, we think Liverpool should wait on this one.

Liverpool should wait on Zakaria

In a lot of ways, Liverpool did sign a Wijnaldum replacement – he just arrived the year before. The Reds brought in Thiago and as things stand, he’s certainly taken that best-XI place that the Dutchman had.

Injuries, however, prevented us from seeing a consistently brilliant Thiago. We’ve had him in patches, but not often enough to either rely on him or see him fully adapt.

But that’s changing. Thiago is now starting games regularly and playing magnificently well. There can be little doubt that this Liverpool side is an immense one in which Thiago fits.

Similarly, we saw Harvey Elliott finally get his first-team run at the start of this season. Injury has him out of the picture, of course, but his initial impact was unbelievably promising.

If both can overcome their respective injury problems, then we’re not sure there’s room for Zakaria at Liverpool. They’re looking like immense players, although much different to Wijnaldum, and priority one should be getting them into the lineup as often as possible.

Now, if there are major worries by mid-January, then reassess. But as things stand, we’re not sure there’s a need to spend £8.5m to bring Zakaria in early.

Not when there’s so much talent already in line for a place.