Liverpool transfer news: Should Reds repeat old trick to rescue £30m Chelsea man?

Liverpool have a chance to repeat a trick that has served them well in the past. So should they rescue a £30m player from Chelsea?

Chelsea are not a predictable football club right now - unless you're trying to sell a player. Then you can feel pretty confident that they'll put a bid in.

But they've made a few headlines this week after leaving Trevoh Chalobah off of their preseason squad list. They want to sell the 25-year-old and are essentially forcing him out of the door.

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Chalobah is an academy graduate of Chelsea's, having joined when he was just eight years old. He's been there for 17 years, then, but that doesn't appear to count for much when profit is involved.

Chelsea want about £30m of it, says Fabrizio Romano.

And that got us thinking - should Liverpool repeat a trick here? The Reds are in the market for a defender after Joel Matip left at the end of his contract and they've got a solid history of signing players who didn't quite work out at Chelsea.

Daniel Sturridge was signed straight from them in 2013 and proved to be an absolute revelation. Mohamed Salah failed at Stamford Bridge but Liverpool brought him back to the Premier League a couple of years later to sensational success.

So what about Chalobah?

Trevor Chalobah at Chelsea

Chalobah is a little bit difficult to judge as last season was a tough one for him. A thigh problem kept him out for 26 games, while fitness issues on the back of that prevented him from featuring in another six.

That's an awful lot of football to miss out on - and it means his data from last season isn't easy to go on.

The year before, though, Chalobah ticked a lot of boxes that Liverpool would want. Passing, for instance, is an area where the defender excels.

He completed 87.6% of his passes as a 23-year-old in 2022/23. That had him in the top 25 for the Premier League that season, while Chalobah was around top 30 for total passes completed in 90 minutes.

He's solid on the ball, then, and did it in a very poor Chelsea team. Get him in one that actually keeps the ball well and we imagine Chalobah can excel.

Of course, Liverpool play with a high line (or at least, we expect them to under Arne Slot) and defenders need to do a lot of one-vs-one defending. That's again something Chalobah does really well - a 68.6% success rate against dribbles in 2022/23. Only 18 players could beat that and only four of which were centre-backs.

These are the kinds of things Liverpool could try and develop in Chalobah and at 25, he's right at that age where he could take a jump.

Now, we wouldn't argue to sign him as a starter but the Reds don't necessarily need a first-choice centre-back. Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté, Joe Gomez and Jarell Quansah can all cover that role. But as an option to replace Matip, Chalobah could be a really solid one.

There's the added - and sometimes very important - benefit of him being a homegrown player, too. He's add to that quota, allowing for more flexibility in transfers elsewhere.

You won't find many homegrown players with top-flight experience under their belts - let alone experience at a major club - for £30m. If Liverpool believe they can improve Chalobah further, we think he might be a steal.

All data from FBref.

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