Liverpool sit second in the Premier League behind only Manchester City, and they are coming off two fantastic cup performances with a 3-1 win over AC Milan in the Champions League and a 5-1 blowout victory over West Ham in the League Cup.
As much as the Premier League has been positioned as a two-horse race between Man City and Arsenal, Liverpool have been contenders against City for longer and did usurp them in the 2019/20 season.
Last season, Liverpool returned as legitimate Premier League title contenders, and though they finished behind both Manchester City and Arsenal, it’s a little puzzling to see them discounted by some pundits as title hopefuls on equal footing as the others.
Although Liverpool have started the season strongly, the club’s ambition should be to continue to push for more so that they can repeat as both Premier League champions and champions of Europe; Liverpool, after all, are one of the most historically successful clubs in the Champions League.
One signing to help Liverpool push in the direction of being the best team in Europe is Real Sociedad defensive midfielder Martin Zubimendi, who has been the main focus of realistic transfer rumors.
Zubimendi is one of the best defensive midfielders in world football and the anchoring centerpiece of a La Real side that has consistently contended for Champions League football under Imanol Alguacil when they were previously mid-table regulars.
His leadership, quality on the ball, and reading of the game defensively would make him an ideal midfield anchor for a Liverpool side that never quite saw the best of the legendary Thiago Alcantara due to a slew of late-career injuries that ultimately led to his 2024 retirement.
There’s a lot of discussion regarding how interested Liverpool and new manager Arne Slot are in Zubimendi amidst the young Ryan Gravenberch’s rise, but Zubimendi is a very different player than Gravenberch and more of an anchoring player who would ideally complement the Dutchman,
Much of Zubimendi’s candidacy as a transfer investment depends on his willingness to join Liverpool, so it is important to keep pushing early and often. Maybe Liverpool won’t be able to coax Zubi or La Real into making a move in the winter, but the January window can be a way for Liverpool to pre-arrange a future blockbuster move to Anfield.
An even more intriguing transfer target could be Monaco’s 20-year-old Lamine Camara, who has broken out alongside the perennially underrated Denis Zakaria to form what could become the best basal midfield partnership in French football.
Camara, through four matches, has already contributed to two goals while averaging nearly six combined tackles and interceptions per game. He is progressive, athletic, and already capable of influencing the final scores of matches.
Liverpool may not see the need to sign an all-around midfielder with the likes of Alexis Mac Allister and Gravenberch starting games, but Camara is a U21 phenom who can do it all.
There aren’t many teams who have caught onto the Camara hype yet, so if Liverpool can sneak in early, they could get a bargain transfer akin to the Eduardo Camavinga signing Real Madrid made for a meager 30 million euros in 2021 before winning the Champions League.
Camara looks special, and while Liverpool may want a more robust sample size before investing, a January move at the right price would be well worth the risk. These are the kinds of future investments that can separate the Reds from Premier League rivals in the market.
Darwin Nunez is worth believing in and Diogo Jota finishes more proficiently than he has any right to, but Liverpool should consider signing a young goal-scorer to usurp one of these two players in the coming seasons, if not next season.
Liverpool probably shouldn’t break the bank for Bayer Leverkusen’s Victor Boniface, though that wouldn’t be a bad idea, What they should do is go for a unique, silky finisher with a totally different skill set to their current options – and more upside.
Within the Bundesliga, Hugo Ekitike has become a star shining even brighter than he did in Ligue 1 as a Reims phenom before his, let’s be frank here, foolish move to the doomed PSG project.
Ekitike is forming one of Europe’s most dynamic duos with the criminally overlooked Omar Marmoush, who wouldn’t necessarily be a bad darkhorse transfer target for Liverpool in his own right.
A counterattacking demon who suits the swashbuckling Bundesliga – and thus Liverpool – playing style to a “T”, Ekitike has three goal contributions through four games thus far and is quietly blossoming into a more all-around striker for the Eagles.
Liverpool could therefore benefit from Ekitike’s speed, quality touch, and emerging creation. A little competition for Nunez couldn’t hurt, and while Nunez is talented, the Reds have a high standard they want to meet in the Champions League. He hasn’t met that yet, in truth.
The managing editor of The Trivela Effect, Kevin has 15 years of experience in digital media. He covered Real Madrid from 2019-2022 for The Real Champs as a site manager. His work has been featured in ESPN, Bleacher Report, Yahoo! Sports, NBC Sports, and other major outlets. You can contact him at the site’s official Twitter handle @TrivelaEffect or via the site’s official email thetrivelaeffect@gmail.com.