With relegation almost assured for Southampton Football Club it seems the vultures are already circling, ready to pick apart the bare bones of their squad as soon as the summer transfer window opens. For Liverpool there are a couple of options playing down on the South Coast as they look to restructure an ageing midfield in an attempt to push for silverware once again. 19 year old Belgian international, Romeo Lavia, is the name that most fans would like to see make the move to Anfield after an impressive campaign. Lavia is extremely athletic, built like a tank and has a great reading of the game for one so young. He has a high ceiling and goes about is business in a no fuss manner that could fit in well with Jurgen Klopp’s high octane press. I am not sure of the details surrounding his contract but surely the former Manchester City youth player had some sort relegation release clause put in his deal and should be available at a reasonable price. Then there is James Ward Prowse. The free kick specialist that no one thinks is good enough to pull on the red shirt of Liverpool. However, I feel he is the one that Jurgen Klopp should be prioritising out of the two.
Should we sign Alexis Mac Allister, Mason Mount and Ryan Gravenberch as is being predicted by the main stream media then Prowse will not get a look in at as a starter. The likes of Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Tiago Alcantara and Fabinho would also be ahead of him in the pecking order but securing his signature should still be a must for one reason and one reason only, his free kick conversion rate.
I know this isn’t the NFL and we can’t sub him in and out just to take pot shots at goal but having scored from 15.2% of his set pieces since 2013 compared to just 5.6% for the rest of the Premier League combined I feel there is a way we can use this ability.
Liverpool have notoriously struggled against teams that like to play a low block, soak up pressure and hit us on the counter as we push to find a breakthrough. In our best years under Klopp it was our relentless mentality that saw us break down this stubbornness, but even then we picked up too many draws along way that potentially cost us two league titles. Having someone as prolific as James Ward Prowse on the bench offers another avenue and gives defenders something else to consider. Imagine sitting at 0-0 against a Sean Dyche Everton side with ten minutes to go at Anfield. It’s at this point we can introduce our specialist kicker and look to win some set pieces in and around the box. Having this option will do two things. One, James Ward Prowse will score some and win us points himself along the way. Secondly it will make the opposition second guess when making challenges deep in their own half, which could create space and opportunities for others to exploit.
I know it’s not glamorous and I know we have the Charlie Adam comparison, but if we can pick this guy up for less than 20 million I think it could be well worth the punt.