He dominates midfield: Liverpool should target this classy enforcer

You cannot argue with Liverpool’s goalscoring start to the season, with 21 goals in 11 league games they almost score two per match with Daniel Sturridge and Luis Suarez particularly on fire. However, in defence they are far from secure with 10 goals conceded, that is almost one per match and twice as many as the division’s best defences, Tottenham and Southampton with five conceded.

It is then evident that they need a bit more bit in the centre of midfield. Someone who can stop the opposition playing while also having the ability to help Brendan Rodgers side ‘win the passing’ with the ability to retain possession and pass accurately.

One man who Rodgers and Liverpool should consider is Maxime Gonalons of Lyon. The 24-year-old has played 11 Ligue 1 games this season amassing a Squawka Performance Score of 156 while three Europa League games have resulted in a Performance Score of 68.

Last season, he was the second best midfielder in France with a Performance Score of 1687, only bettered by PSG midfielder Blaise Matuidi as well as winning the highest number of tackles, 113, 81% of all the tackles he contested while he was also the second best passer of all players who played 30 games or more.

Top Five Tacklers In Ligue 1 Last Season

Most tellingly and perhaps most crucially, this season, Gonalons has not made a single error that has resulted in an opposition goal whereas his positional rivals at Liverpool, Steven Gerrard and Lucas Leiva have both made one.

With 33 tackles contested he has come out on top in 73% of them while in the air Gonalons wins 70% of the headers he challenges for. For midfielders playing 11 matches plus he has won the third highest amount of headers in the French top-flight.

His pass accuracy is as high as 86%. Comparing this to the rest of Ligue 1 who have played at least the same amount of games as he has this puts him in the top 10 with 70.1% of passes being played forward. This would also put him behind only Lucas Leiva and Joe Allen is terms of pass accuracy at Liverpool.

Considering Allen barely plays at the moment it means he would be the second best passer at Anfield, something the manager would clearly be on board with.

Gonalons is certainly capable of playing for Liverpool and in the Premier League, he mixes a solid defensive ability and determination to get stuck in with excellent passing and top notch vision. In many respects he plays in a similar way to Morgan Schneiderlin of Southampton.

With Liverpool lacking in the defensive department, and the back four in obvious need of protection Gonalons would be the ideal signing for the Merseyside club, especially if they want to maintain their Champions League place ambitions.