Arne Slot will be relieved that Liverpool just need six points to become Premier League champions after their 2-1 victory against West Ham United.
At this stage of the season, Liverpool will not be concerned about how they win games but the results alone but on the day, West Ham were the better team in the second half.
The Reds boss acknowledged how “difficult” the game actually was, with Arne Slot referring to Lucas Paqueta as “incredible” after the hosts’ latest triumph at Anfield.
Paqueta was a joy to watch as he perhaps had his best game in a West Ham shirt for ages as he starred against Arne Slot’s Liverpool side.
West Ham star Lucas Paqueta shows Liverpool they need to sign a number 10
But a major takeaway from Lucas Paqueta’s heroics for West Ham for Liverpool should be that they need to sign an attacking midfielder.
On the day, Liverpool’s attacking midfield duo of Alexis Mac Allister and Curtis Jones were no match for Paqueta — who ran the show for West Ham — floating across the park, being impossible to press and splitting the champions-elect’s backline with his sublime vision and final ball.
Arne Slot’s only alternatives in the number 10 role were Harvey Elliott and Dominik Szoboszlai — with the former still finding himself and the latter being much more suited to simply being an energetic presence in the middle of the park.
In Szoboszlai’s case in particular, he profiles like Georginio Wijnaldum — who was a part of a Liverpool midfield alongside Fabinho and Jordan Henderson who were workhorses but at the time, Jurgen Klopp had an incredibly creative and productive front three — which meant they did not necessarily need a superstar in the attacking midfield position.
But the quality of Liverpool’s front three is no longer the same, with Salah perhaps being the only elite forward at their disposal and with Trent Alexander-Arnold set to join Real Madrid, their creativity as a side will only decrease — making it key for them to sign a player who possesses Paqueta’s profile — regardless of he is better or worse than the West Ham maverick.
In case the Egyptian superstar’s creativity takes a hit, the Merseyside-based club may live to regret not signing a creator who can also shoulder the goalscoring burden with him. But Liverpool are in contact to sign Florian Wirtz this summer.
Do Liverpool still want to sign Florian Wirtz?
TBR Football revealed that Liverpool cannot be discounted from signing Wirtz as they remain huge admirers of the Bayer Leverkusen technician.
Wirtz could decide his future this month but as things stand, he is yet to determine where his next career move lies. If Liverpool signed the 21-year-old, he would most certainly be a statement signing and one that rivals West Ham’s Paqueta and other creative forces in the Premier League.
