Liverpool’s travelling supporters sang in the stands long after the full-time whistle had been blown, Arne Slot’s emphatic Premier League double over Manchester City confirmed.
They sang, bellowed and capered, and who could blame them? Etihad hoodoo had been vanquished, and Arsenal’s shock defeat against West Ham United the day before resulted in an 11-point lead at the peak of the division.
Some would call that unassailable. Liverpool, to be sure, have more challenges to overcome this season, but wow what a team, so cultured and combative and many-angled. From Alisson Becker to Virgil van Dijk to Mohamed Salah, this is a squad moving forward with an urgency, an indomitability.
It’s a star-studded unit, but in fact Liverpool are comprised of many different parts, with Slot’s success in raising the bar for many Redmen one of his greatest triumphs. The Dutchman didn’t welcome much new to Anfield when he arrived but he invested in these players.
It could be quite the grand slam finish to the term, and while the likes of Salah and Van Dijk have earned their flowers, many more have come on leaps and bounds to spring from Jurgen Klopp’s legacy and into something new and very much its own thing.
Liverpool's 'most improved' this season
How could we start anywhere but slap in the centre? Ryan Gravenberch has been a revelation in the middle of the park this season, praised as “the best midfielder in the world” by Liverpool writer Joseph Agbobli.
Intelligent, silky-smooth and press-resistant, the Netherlands star has made remarkable improvements are a middling maiden term in England, used in rotation by Klopp and struggling to showcase his full scale.
Matches (starts)
26 (12)
27 (27)
Goals
1
0
Assists
0
2
Touches*
28.8
65.7
Pass completion
83%
89%
Key passes*
0.6
0.8
Dribbles*
0.9
0.9
Ball recoveries*
2.8
5.3
Tackles + interceptions*
1.5
3.5
Total duels (won)*
2.8 (47%)
4.7 (58%)
He’s not the only one. Cody Gakpo is Liverpool’s second-top scorer this season (no prizes for guessing top spot). Gravenberch’s Oranje partner has matched last season’s tally of 16 strikes having played about 1,000 fewer minutes.
Slot’s genius lies in his simplicity, concentrating Gakpo’s role into that of a goalscoring winger. Liverpool are a world-class unit, capable of shifting into various styles of play, but you can’t exactly call them overwrought.
Players like Dominik Szoboszlai have been identified to possess skill sets capable of different uses, which is why he operated so effectively in a makeshift centre-forward role at the Etihad. The Hungarian is another to have gone from strength to strength this term, having fallen out of favour in the last days of Klopp, benched for five of the final six top-flight fixtures of 2023/24.
Then you have someone like Luis Diaz. The Colombian’s reputation preceded Slot’s arrival, but he ebbed and flowed last year. However, he too has made gains in this new system – with his towering market value reflecting that.
Liverpool have hit the jackpot on Luis Diaz
Last season, Diaz reoriented himself after an injury-marred 2023/24 campaign, but he lacked the potency that his ability demanded.
Electric on the ball and determined off it, the Colombia international, 28, has made his mark in Slot’s system, proving to be a winger of mixed proportions.
Slot is a fierce proponent of hard graft and team play, something that the indefatigable Diaz performs with aplomb.
His finishing has also improved. As per Sofascore, Diaz has scored nine goals in the Premier League this year (a personal best) having missed only seven big chances. To put that in perspective, he scored eight, missed 13 big chances across more game time.
Lucho has been an invaluable option at centre-forward this season with Darwin Nunez regressing and Diogo Jota enduring yet another injury-hit season, not always riding the most prolific of streams but playing an important part nonetheless.
Left winger
24
6
3
Centre-forward
11
6
0
Right winger
1
1
0
And that’s not to say he hasn’t found the goal. Diaz, like Gakpo, has equalled last season’s tally of 13 goals having played far fewer minutes – about 1,300.
And with such variegated underlying metrics, it’s clear to see why he’s held in such a high regard. As per FBref, Diaz ranks among the top 1% of forwards for pass completion and shot-creating actions, the top 5% for progressive passes and the top 3% for progressive carries per 90, showcasing his expansive tactical tool kit.
A carry is considered progressive if the ball is moved towards the opponent’s goal at least 10 yards from its starting point or is carried into the penalty area.
Such plaudits are indeed reflected through his current price tag, with Football Transfers placing him above all the other vastly improved members of Liverpool’s first team mentioned above.
Diaz’s performances have seen Football Transfers (FT) give the South American star a current value of £65m, a figure FSG could bank given Barcelona’s ongoing intrigue in Liverpool’s left winger, who is heading into the penultimate year of his £55k-per-week contract at Anfield.
He wouldn’t come cheap, but the proof’s in the pudding: he’s a “deadly” and dynamic forward, as reporter Lewis Steele has pronounced.
To further contextualise this: FT record Gakpo as a £51m-rated player right now, whereas the fast-improving Gravenberch is close by with a £50m value.
So then, 28-year-old Diaz has two years left on his current deal and is one of the most profitable players in FSG’s brood. Perennial transfer links with Barcelona might just come to fruition this summer, but who knows?
Whatever the final act may be in this electric-paced and dangerous forward’s Liverpool career, he will depart with a weight of silverware and perhaps a Premier League title in that mix.
Market Movers
He’d also turn a pretty, and if Liverpool’s transfer history is anything to go by, Slot would welcome a brand-new starlet to the fold with a glittering future, taking his predecessor’s baton.
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