TKT OPINION: Why Liverpool don’t need to sign Eberechi Eze

If we are talking about this in the context of Liverpool, the Reds are entering a new tactical era under Arne Slot, and while Eze may look like an exciting option, I believe he is a luxury signing in a roster that doesn’t need luxuries right now.

So I tried to go back to my notepad and scratch out how Eze would fit tactically at Anfield Road, complemented by the tactical and positional need of the current squad – and I came to a conclusion: Liverpool don’t need Eberechi Eze (at least for the moment); the Merseysiders need more structure players and not another artist.

Eze as a player and comparing him with current options at Merseyside

Let me try to dig a bit deeper so I can be more specific about my understandings. So we start with what Eze is (as a player directly subject to his current attributes). He is a left-sided attacking midfielder, or No. 10, who likes to carry the ball into the final third and prefers the freedom to drift wide, cut inside, or drive between lines. But he does not bring something to the table that the Reds don’t already have. If you think about it, there are overlaps with Gakpo over the left-channel carries, and then he is quite in line with Szoboszlai in terms of attacking instincts, and he has Elliott’s creative drift. But then what is more important to me is that he doesn’t outperform any of them when it comes to off-the-ball work and defensive reliability or even (in a sense) tactical discipline, given how all of these are important in the current system that Slot has deployed at Kirkby.

If we look at how Slot goes about his system, he likes to impose an aggressive press and has defined attacking roles based on the players. Then creative responsibilities are shared across multiple players (no individual is solely tasked as a creative outlet). And then he imposes zone-specific moments, but Eze, Eze thrives in freedom. He is a type of player who should be given a free-roaming licence and let him express himself across the pitch, but Slot and his system are about synchronised occupation of space across the zones, and he will instead want players that are consistently moving to create space for others, not just to receive.

He doesn’t really bring anything to the current system

I am confused about where Eze exactly fits in the current side; the thing is, if you play him as a No. 10, you compromise on the pressing, and if you play him wide left, you remove that width and cutting runs. And lastly, if you are going to ask him to drop deeper, then you lose midfield control. Please don’t get me wrong; the problem here isn’t Eze’s talent; it is more about how he doesn’t fix any tactical problem that Liverpool currently has.

I know that Eze has improved massively out of possession under Gladner, but the problem for me is that he still doesn’t engage in high-intensity sprints consistently and then rarely drops into the back line during transitions. You also don’t get a natural pressing trigger in him (which is important in Slot’s narrow mid-block pressing). In this post-Klopp era, Liverpool cannot afford to carry any players defensively. Eze is not a system player. He is more of a disruptor, and right now the Reds don’t need disruption; they need a sense of cohesion.

Author Opinion

Eze is an entertainer; that’s given. But we don’t need to make a highlight reel; we need to make a team capable of working and winning like a machine. The club doesn’t need another ball-carrier who dribbles into the final third. The current system needs pressers. See, Eze is too talented to sit on the bench, and Liverpool can instead spend that marquee money on other positions.

Let someone else pay the premium for Eze. I believe Liverpool should pass on signing him, not because Eze isn’t good enough…

…but because he isn’t what the Reds need right now.