How would Liverpool fit Ekitike and Isak in the same team?published at 12:00 British Summer Time
12:00 BST
Alex Keble
Football tactics writer
Image source, BBC Sport
Liverpool’s summer window has already been the most curious we have ever seen from Premier League champions.
Signing Bundesliga stars en masse and swapping out both full-backs implies a major tactical shift that heralds the dawn of a new one.
But bringing in Newcastle United‘s Alexander Isak would push Liverpool’s transfer business into unprecedented territory.
What exactly is Arne Slot thinking?
The simplest thing to do is fully convert Hugo Ekitike into a Luis Diaz replacement, following the Colombia forward’s move to Bayern Munich.
Ekitike has played just nine games – two starts and 324 minutes in total – as a left-winger, although he has often tended to drift out to that side, most notably throughout 2023-24.
More importantly, the way Slot has used Cody Gapko and Luis Diaz – as one-on-one dribblers, using their acceleration to cut inside full-backs – corresponds with Ekitike’s best qualities.
In the Bundesliga last season, Ekitike came fifth for attempted dribbles (126) and for shot-ending carries (44). He also provided eight assists and ranked fifth for ‘attacking sequence’ involvements.
He hasn’t done it much before, but Ekitike has the makings of a Slot left-winger.