Liverpool line up huge move to sign “one of the PL’s best players”

Liverpool have to watch from the stands as their rivals chase silverware across multiple fronts, and while silverware cannot be claimed every season, there’s no question that the Reds have fallen by the wayside in Arne Slot’s second year.

The Premier League champions have been far from good enough, and while a number of problems need sorting in the summer transfer window, the noise is going to centre around Mohamed Salah.

Salah, 33, will leave Liverpool at the end of the season, drawing to a close one of the most iconic careers in English football history. A startling drop-off in form and his public fallout with Slot midway through the season have made this a sorry end to an incredible journey, but that is often the way.

Salah is off, and replacing him won’t be easy, but you could make a case for the left side of Slot’s frontline being in equally dire need of reinforcing this summer.

Liverpool targeting left winger

There’s no question that Liverpool have been blighted by injuries this season, but they haven’t helped themselves, and the attacking line has struggled to purr even with everyone fit.

It’s been intimated that Liverpool will seek out more than one winger this summer. Not only does Salah need replacing, but Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes needs to find an upgrade on Cody Gakpo, whose poor performances throughout the campaign have led analyst Raj Chohan to call him a “Europa League-level player”.

Gakpo is still physical and dynamic, and Hugo Ekitike’s long-term injury and Alexander Isak’s ongoing setbacks mean that he will not be sold this summer.

Even so, Liverpool could add some depth to their attack, and according to TEAMtalk, they are ready to do just that by rivalling Manchester United for Iliman Ndiaye.

Ndiaye, 26, is Everton’s attacking focal point, and while a move to Liverpool would be contentious, to say the least, it’s not outside the realm of possibility, though it would likely cost the Reds about £75m.

Why Ndiaye would be a Gakpo upgrade for Liverpool

Ndiaye’s pace and potency in the final third are two elements that Liverpool have missed down the flanks this season. The emergence of Rio Ngumoha has shined a light on what Slot’s side have been missing, but the 17-year-old, for all his exciting potential, is not yet the finished article, and his game time must continue to be managed.

He is regarded as something of a maverick, a flashy winger who also has substance in his attacking efforts, maneuvering past opponents and into the perfect pocket of space. There he strikes with precision, certainly more accurate and effective than the likes of Gakpo.

With Luis Diaz having been sold to Bayern Munich for £65.5m last summer, Liverpool have lost a large chunk of dynamism and unpredictability down the left channel. Ndiaye would return that to Slot’s squad and then some.

Described by the ever-vocal Jamie O’Hara as “one of the best players in the Premier League”, Ndiaye could be a welcome tonic to counter the stylistic regression we’ve seen in Slot’s system this season. Moreover, wouldn’t it be nice to swipe Everton’s talisman from them?

Gakpo isn’t going to be sold this summer, and rightly so. Liverpool won’t have enough depth across the frontline to relinquish hold of their Dutch forward, who is versatile and scored 18 goals across all competitions in 2024/25 as the Reds tromped toward the Premier League title.

However, in Ndiaye, Slot would strike gold on a different kind of attacker, one who could make all the difference in returning to the top of English and European football next year.