If 2019 has proven anything to me thus far, then it’s that Liverpool have still to find a replacement for Philippe Coutinho.

The Brazilian left for FC Barcelona in January 2018 and since then The Reds haven’t had the majestic creator pulling the strings from slightly deeper positions.

In fairness it wasn’t overly noticeable in 2018.

The three forwards were all in superb form, especially Mohamed Salah who was scoring for fun. The two full-backs became great sources as attacking outlets with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson providing a fair amount of great, accurate crosses.

Jurgen Klopp’s preferred midfield has been James Milner, Georginio Wijnaldum and club captain Jordan Henderson. Brazilian holding midfielder Fabinho has also seen plenty of game time recently. That’s a bit of a pragmatic midfield.

New recruits Naby Keita and Xherdan Shaqiri haven’t had many starts this year.

Keita hasn’t settled into Premier League life as well as the Anfield club were hoping for. That doesn’t mean Naby won’t come good, in fact I believe he will, but he might just not be as dynamic as The Reds have been needing this season.

Shaqiri has been more attack-minded and has scored some vital goals this term, in total the attacker has scored six times for Liverpool. Yet he’s only produced three assists. Liverpool need someone that can create for others and Klopp seems to have a reluctance when it comes to starting the Swiss international on a regular basis.

Today Liverpool managed to see off Burnley’s challenge at Anfield and a big part of that was down to Adam Lallana. Unfortunately injury and fitness issues has meant that the former Southampton man hasn’t been able to produce such performances on a regular basis.

England international Alex Oxlade-Chamberlian is hopefully returning from his longterm injury soon. The Ox can make great runs forward but again he isn’t the best when it comes to creating assists for teammates.

Scotland captain and Reds fullback Andy Robertson currently leads the club’s assist chart with eight assists. The best midfielder for creating chances for others has been Milner with four and that’s not good enough.

Current champions and league leaders Manchester City have one massive plus point over Klopp’s men and that’s their creative players that they have. Bernardo Silva has stepped up his game this season, Leroy Sane is getting better after every year, David Silva is a Premier League legend, Kevin De Bruyne is a Belgian maestro that can unlock any defence and in Raheem Sterling City have got an attacking player playing world class performances week in and week out at the moment!

When you look at how Liverpool have gone about their transfer business in recent windows, bringing in talent for positions that need strengthening, I can only imagine that Jurgen Klopp will instruct his recruitment team to bring in a new creative marvel this summer.

That could lead the Merseyside club to Sporting Lisbon and in particular Bruno Fernandes.

The Mirror have stated that The Reds could land the attacking midfielder in a cut-price deal. Fernandes has an £86m release clause but Sporting lost a lot of talent last summer when certain stars walked out on the club after fans attacked the team’s training ground. That could mean that the Portuguese side need to raise more funds this summer.

Bruno is a versatile attacking talent that gets goals as well as create them for the forwards.

So far this term; the twenty-four year old has scored twenty times for Lisbon and created ten assists.

He can play anywhere in the attacking midfield positions. According to Whoscored; Bruno has averaged 3.4 shots at goal and made 3 key passes per league game too.

The Portuguese international spent the early part of his career in Italy, thus showing he can adapt to life in another country. He proved in Serie A with Udinese and Sampdoria that even at a young age he could find the net or supply the goalscorers.

Fernandes possesses great technique and has the dribbling skill-set to get beyond opposition players. He can be a danger from set-pieces and is also pretty handy with his shots from distance. He’s also got an eye for a great pass and a big part of that is down to his awareness of what’s happening around him and the ability he’s got to hit the right ball at the right time!

For me, Bruno Fernandes is a a Jurgen Klopp type player. He has that wee bit of magic that can unlock tight defences. He also has the ability to produce a wonder strike that can get his club on the front foot.

Posted on March 10th, 2019 by scott
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