A new Premier League arrival has revealed this week that Liverpool was interested in signing him before he moved elsewhere, but the Reds shouldn’t give up just yet.
Liverpool was scrambling to sign a midfielder before the transfer deadline after Jordan Henderson injured his hamstring in the 2-1 win over Newcastle United on August 31.
In the end, they agreed to terms with Juventus for Arthur, who arrived on a season-long loan with the option of a permanent deal. However, according to recent revelations, they may have signed one of the Brazilian’s Juventus teammates instead.
Denis Zakaria, who joined Chelsea from the Bianconeri after only a half-season in Turin, claims he ‘heard from his agent’ that Liverpool was interested in signing him, but it appears he was already committed to the Blues (via Blick).
Zakaria, like Arthur, will take to the Premier League on an effective trial basis, trying to convince Chelsea to exercise their option to buy him long-term.
But can a future move to Anfield be completely ruled out? If Liverpool decides to come to the end of the season that they don’t want to pay £32m for Arthur, and Chelsea turns down their Zakaria opportunity, then the Reds may yet pounce. If they were interested a few weeks ago, they would no doubt continue to take a look.
Positionally, Arthur and Zakaria are fairly similar. Both have split their minutes between defensive midfield and central midfield roles, with Zakaria occupying the former 158 times and the latter 57 times.
He could then take Arthur’s place in the Liverpool squad, providing cover and competition for Fabinho at defensive midfield and Thiago on the left.
While their positional profiles are similar, Zakaria, who is valued at just over £24 million by Transfermarkt, would not be a like-for-like replacement for Arthur.
Smarterscout (via The Athletic) has given the two players scores out of 100 for a host of different metrics, and they demonstrate the considerable differences between them. Zakaria’s data comes from the first half of the 2021/22 season at Borussia Mönchengladbach, while Arthur’s comes from Juventus.
The biggest difference is that the Swiss out-scores the Brazilian by a whopping 68 for shot volume (86 vs 18). But on the other side of the ball, Arthur is 45 clear when it comes to disrupting opposition moves (71 vs 26) and 40 ahead for ball recoveries and interceptions (65 vs 25).
Arthur also has the edge in link-up play volume (77 vs 61) and receptions in the opposition box (40 vs 15).
But Zakaria runs with the ball much more frequently (carry and dribble volume 99 vs 78) and would appear to be superior creatively too (52 vs 30 for xG from shot creation and 32 vs 9 for xG from ball progression).
He also makes up for his earlier defensive shortfall by out-scoring his counterpart for defending intensity (42 vs 19) and, surprisingly given the comparisons between Arthur and Thiago, bests him for ball retention too (80 vs 66).
The only areas where the two players are in the same bracket are defending impact (18 for Zakaria, 10 for Arthur) and aerial duels quantity (21 for Zakaria, 15 for Arthur).
Some may argue that this demonstrates the haphazard nature of Liverpool’s hurried midfielder search, in which a competent body was prioritized over all else.
Looking ahead, Jürgen Klopp must make an intriguing decision about what he wants from his defensive midfielder and left-sided number eight. If Arthur does not fit his vision, a player like Zakaria may represent a stylistic shift.
The fact that Chelsea’s management has changed is a major reason Liverpool can still hope to sign the 25-year-old. Zakaria joined the club when Thomas Tuchel was in charge, but the German was fired and replaced by Graham Potter.
It remains to be seen whether Zakaria is the kind of player Potter wants, and whether he fits into the former Brighton boss’ desired system.
Either way, he’s likely to play a good amount of football this season as Chelsea competes on four fronts and contends with significant fixture congestion.
Liverpool, then, will be able to have a fairly comprehensive look at a player they identified as a target, examining his Premier League credentials. The option to sign him may then be back on the table next summer amid an anticipated midfield refresh at Anfield.
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