Liverpool are short of options at left and right-back after Nathaniel Clyne hurt his ACL during preseason. Could twins Joel and Adam Andersson hold the key?
The club has confirmed that Clyne will be out for the whole of 2019 after damaging his knee ligaments in the 3-2 loss against Dortmund, reported the BBC.
As the 28-year-old could theoretically provide cover for both full-back positions, the news may force manager Jurgen Klopp to turn towards the transfer market.
With Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold in the squad, anyone Klopp bought would act as a back-up and so needs to meet certain criteria.
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Firstly, they need to be young and capable of development. Signing a 27-year-old doesn’t make sense as they’d want to play regularly and would be less motivated to join Liverpool as a result.
Secondly, they should be from a league that would see joining a Premier League side as a step up, even if they aren’t going to be getting a lot of minutes.
And finally, any player would need to represent good value for the club and would need to be highly motivated to join Liverpool. Joel and Adam Andersson fit those criteria.
The Swedish twins can cover a variety of positions between them: Adam can fit in at left-back and right-back, while Joel spent 2018/2019 featuring as a right wing-back, although he has played a more traditional role as well.
According to Smarter Scout, Adam would make a fine back-up left-back. Across nearly 1,000 minutes in that position, he was able to defend well, dribble, pass into the box and link up with the rest of his side well.
His brother Joel is weaker in the challenge from right-back although he does maintain strong attacking stats, while at right wing-back Joel’s tackle completion statistics are much improved while he makes consistent passes into the box.
Both would be cheaper options as well, and both are full internationals. BK Häcken sold Joel to Danish side Midtjylland for £1.17 million so you’d assume that Adam would cost around the same, while his brother would command a slightly higher fee now.
In terms of finding young, back-up players with potential to improve for not very much, Liverpool could do a lot worse than look at the Andersson twins.