Liverpool have been linked with Argentinian starlet Thiago Almada, but who is the player and what might he bring to the side?
Reports have indicated that Liverpool are interested in looking at the Vélez Sarsfield player, who has been compared to Luis Suarez.
But who is the 18-year-old and why are the Champions League winners scouting the Argentine?
The first thing to realise is that he’s already played in a variety of positions and has impressed with his versatility. According to Smarter Scout, Thiago Almada 430 minutes at left wing, 373 as a central midfielder, 196 on the right and 102 through the middle as an attacking midfielder or shadow striker.
So he immediately ticks a number of boxes because of his ability to play anywhere across the front three and also as a regular midfielder
With only nine goals and four assists from 46 games, Almada is still raw and has a lot of work to do in the final third and the data from Smarter Scout appears to back that up.
He’s good when it comes to linking up play and knitting it all together with a score of 96 from 99, but the kid needs to work on his improvement in dribbling, shooting and receiving it in the box.
Those traits are broadly consistent across all three positions, although Alamada seems to be better at bursting forward and getting on the end of it from central midfield and curiously is a better dribbler.
Thiago Almada does keep the ball at a better than average rate and is good with recoveries, which is another key area that Jurgen Klopp will look at, and is a good defender with a rating of 82 from ground duels out of possession.
He’s also tenacious, doesn’t give up easily and chases causes until the end of the world – which is perhaps why he was compared to Luis Suarez at the start of his career.