It appears Liverpool are finally about to get their midfield overhaul under way.
According to The Daily Telegraph, the Reds are working on a deal to bring Wolves midfielder Matheus Nunes to the club in the summer in a deal worth £44million.
The news has come as a surprise. The Merseyside club seemingly passed up the opportunity to sign the Portugal international in the summer, allowing him to move to Molineux for £38million.
The 24-year-old hasn’t set the Premier League alight following the switch, though there are extenuating circumstances for that, but he’s clearly done enough to convince Liverpool that he is the player for them.
The question is why now and not last summer? Yes, Nunes was untried and untested in the Premier League at the time but he had played a key role in Sporting Lisbon ending their 19-year wait for a Primeira Liga title.
He had also impressed in the Champions League with Pep Guardiola singling him out for praise following Manchester City’s tie with the Portuguese giants, saying: “I would say that Matheus Nunes is one of the best players in the world today.”
At the time of writing, Nunes has racked up fewer than 1,000 minutes in the Premier League. He’s yet to score his first goal for Wolves and has chipped in with a single assist. Can he really be up to speed with the rigours of the English top flight? Possibly, but that can’t be the sole factor in Liverpool's decision to make their move, can it?
Could this move be a reaction to the current predicament that Liverpool find themselves in? There is a real possibility they finish outside of the top four this season. They are sixth in the Premier League, seven points off fourth-placed Manchester United.
Injuries have disrupted the team since matchday one and this continues to be the case, with Virgil van Dijk expected to have a spell on the sidelines now with a hamstring issue. Luck really isn’t on their side right now.
The possibility of missing out on Champions League football no doubt has an impact on their transfer plans. The Reds would still be an attractive proposition but they wouldn’t have the finances to pull off some of the deals they may have lined up.
In moving for Nunes now, they are at least ensuring they get one of their supposed top targets, with assistant manager Pep Lijnders reportedly a fan.
Liverpool may also feel they are in a more assured position now, at least from a squad planning perspective. When Nunes was initially linked in the summer, there was still uncertainty over whether Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita would be extending their stays at Anfield.
Both are out of contract in the summer but there had been talk that the club wanted to retain Keita’s services while Oxlade-Chamberlain would have opportunities to earn an extension. There was also hope that Harvey Elliott and Curtis Jones could stake claims to be midfield starters while Fabio Carvalho was also someone who was viewed as a potential midfielder.
It is yet to be officially confirmed, but it looks as though both Oxlade-Chamberlain and Keita will be leaving the club at the end of the current campaign. Jones has had a torrid time with injuries and cannot yet be relied upon, Elliott is struggling defensively while Carvalho hasn’t found a home in this Liverpool team.
Jurgen Klopp may feel he is no longer in a position to wait for these players. He might want someone who can have an immediate impact, and Nunes can do just that.
Those are some potential reasons why the club might feel now is the time to move for the Brazilian-born Portuguese international. One simply might be because Liverpool have realised they made a mistake by not signing him in the summer.
Judging his time at Wolves is difficult. He didn’t arrive until after the season was under way meaning he had no pre-season with his new team-mates. Bruno Lage then opted to use him as an attacking midfielder before the manager was sacked and replaced by Julen Lopetegui. It hasn’t necessarily been the ideal bedding-in process for Nunes.
However, if you use Nunes' time at Sporting to get a better understanding of him as a player, you can appreciate his skillset. He spent his final full season in the Portuguese capital playing as a left-sided midfielder in a double pivot. He was attempting, on average, over five dribbles per 90 and had a completion rate of close to 60%.
Nunes wasn’t heavily involved in the build-up, averaging just 35 passes per 90 but was responsible for ball progression. He would regularly pick the ball up in deep areas and slalom past opponents to open up space for team-mates.
He was a bit of a pressure relief valve for Sporting in the sense that he always seemed able to retain possession in tight spaces and was often key to turning defensive situations into counter-attacking opportunities.
During the 2020/21 season, he was on the right side of a double pivot and performed just as impressively.
Nunes is versatile, press-resistant, a powerful runner and quite combative. He possesses a few traits that this Liverpool midfield currently lack, so why wouldn’t he be a target?
He is nowhere near as expressive as Thiago when in possession but he can pick out a pass when he needs to.
In the still above, Nunes has picked up possession and assessed his options. He quickly chops back onto his stronger side and proceeds to pick out a team-mate with a superbly weighted ball over the top.
It is even more impressive when you consider how deep the defensive line was and how precise he needs to be in order to bypass them but not overhit it so the ball goes out of play. He executes it perfectly, though the chance isn’t converted.
The above example is from his time in Portugal. Most players in this situation would just look to loft the ball back into the penalty area but Nunes instead slides it into the space for the wide player to attack.
It is very well done and does showcase his vision and his passing ability. He’s not being signed for that but it will be a nice bonus if he’s used in deeper areas.
To sum up, on paper, it does seem like a strange deal, all things considered.
But it could just be a case of Liverpool looking to right a wrong from last summer.
