20 Jul 2016 10:24:16
A couple of days ago I posted about how I didn't think the Wijnaldum rumours were anything serious, that now seems to have changed with Ed1 thinking it is going to happen. The reason I doubted it (other than Ed1 doubting it) was that it didn't fit the profile of the sort of player it was my understanding we were looking for. I thought we were in the market for a first choice left back and a squad central midfielder to replace Allen. So how does Wiji (his new de facto nickname) fit in to Klopp's plans?

(Note the following comes from a web resource, I do not claim to be familiar with Wiji as a player)

Is he the back up CM instead of Zielinski? This seems really unlikely, Wiji's cost and profile are far higher than Zielinski's so it's hard to think he'll be coming in to sit on the bench. Then there's the fact that positionally they seem to be different players, Zielinski played exclusively last season on the right hand side of a flat midfield three. Wiji made his name at PSV playing left of centre as an attacking player with a defensive midfielder behind him. Last season at Newcastle he played a predominantly attacking role and had the majority of his success playing on the left flank. He played a few games in a midfield 2 (a la Hendo/ Can) but Newcastle failed to win a single match when he did.

If he's not instead of Zielinski we're in uncharted territory. Is he coming in as a squad player or will he be a regular starter? An ex-Dutch player of the season costing £20m+ could be expected to go straight into the team but it is becoming increasingly common to pay huge transfer fees on squad players, Utd, City and Chelsea have been doing it for years. Are Liverpool now in that category? Possibly but my instinct is that if he comes Wiji will expect to play.

As I alluded to I don't think he's a Can/ Hendo replacement. It's possible that he's an addition to those two, Wiji made his name in a midfield three, it's possible that Can would be the holding player with Hendo and Wiji linking in front of him. That would see Klopp move away from his preferred formation though so I'd expect Wiji's most likely position to be one of our three AMs behind the striker.

Watching videos it appears that Wiji's style is to use close control to keep possession and take opposition players out of the game. Our current players who mostly match that profile are Coutinho and Lallana. Given that Wiji has predominately plays on the left flank though he comes into direct competition with Couts. This is where my alarm bells start ringing. It appears that we're buying a player who we didn't realise we needed who has a similar style and plays in a similar position to our star player. We've known for sometime that Liverpool's current profile does not match Coutinho's ambition and we know there have been whispers that Barcelona and, more likely, PSG have been looking at him. Is this a signal that Coutinho is off and we're sorting out his replacement before it's announced?

I hope not but it does seem the most plausible explanation. Wiji is a good player, 11 goals and 5 assists last season and the Dutch player of the season the year before are testament to that. Whether he's good enough to be Couts' replacement is another matter all together.


1.) 20 Jul 2016
20 Jul 2016 10:44:45
If he's Coutinhos's replacement then we're stuffed. Not as bad as replacing Suarez with Balotelli but we'll be going backwards not forwards.


2.) 20 Jul 2016
20 Jul 2016 10:53:38
Nice post. Well written with all the questions, and a lot of info on the player.
I feel that 20mil isn't that high a price anymore. Players that go to the "bigger" sides to be starting players range from 30mil to 85mil, even more at times (Pogba maybe) .
I would feel a lot more confident this season knowing that we have competition for vital places.
Sturridge/ Ings/ Origi competing for 1 place.
Firmino, Coutinho, Mane, Lallana, Ojo, Milner and possibly Wijnaldum and youth players competing for 3 attacking mids.
Can/ Henderson/ Grujic/ maybe Wijnaldum again plus youth and whoever else comes in.
That's healthy competition, with any combo of those players looking like a strong 1st 11. And that I think, is the difference of a top 4 side.
We have to stop thinking about just our favoured starting 11, and look at players that will push to be in a starting 11.
As well as subs coming off the bench that would keep the strength.
I think we would get a left back before the window closes.


3.) 20 Jul 2016
20 Jul 2016 12:23:27
Good post, muscat.

Certainty is an illusion for sanity.


4.) 20 Jul 2016
20 Jul 2016 13:06:45
Muscatred, thank you for this post, proves a point I've been trying to make on wijnaldum. Good player but not needed especially if he's being brought in centrally, I mean we would be an open book if that was to happen.