Liverpool transfers: How will Arne Slot line up with Martin Zubimendi?

It isn’t yet official but the signs are fairly promising. Martin Zubimendi looks set to become the first transfer of the Arne Slot era at Liverpool. 

The 25-year-old has previously rejected the advances of Arsenal, Barcelona and Bayern Munich, opting instead to stay with his boyhood club, Real Sociedad. The Reds, however, appear to have done the impossible. They have, according to multiple reports, managed to convince the Euro 2024 winner to leave the Anoeta Stadium.

Leveraging Richard Hughes’ relationship with Zubimendi’s agent, Inaki Ibanez, Liverpool have seemingly sold the midfielder on the idea of progressing his career at Anfield. All of the noise coming out of Spain is that the Real Sociedad maestro is going to be playing his trade in the Premier League this season.

Read more: How Zubimendi can emulate icon Alonso

His arrival does cause some problems though.

Slot, somehow, needs to find a way to balance his midfield options. And he’s not exactly short when it comes to that particular area of the team.

Zubimendi would be battling it out with Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szboszlai, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Ryan Gravenberch, Wataru Endo, Stefan Bajcetic and Tyler Morton for a start in the middle third.

Morton and Endo could make way for Zubimendi

Morton and Endo could yet still depart during this summer transfer window while Bajcetic might be managed this season after an injury-plagued 2023/24 campaign. Even so, midfield is a stacked area of the team for Liverpool.

It is also a key area for the Reds. Get the balance right and the foundations are there for a solid season. Get it wrong and it can be a disaster. Just look at what happened in 2022/23.

Slot needs to get this right. So, if Zubimendi signs, what is the best midfield trio for the Reds?

What is Arne Slot's best Liverpool midfield?

If we use his Feyenoord tactic as a blueprint, the Dutch tactician wants a staggered double pivot to help with the build-up phase in central areas and then the third midfielder will be a creative force in the final third. However, all three of those players have dual roles.

For example, the deepest midfielder needs to be a destroyer and a controller. The other double pivot player aids the build-up and is then tasked with being something of a box-to-box midfielder when the team is attacking.

For Feyenoord, Quinten Timber had this role and he chipped in with seven goals and nine assists last season. The third man would drop into the right-sided central midfield role at times but then would also drift into the right half-space to act as a creator from that area. Calvin Stengs finished the 2023/24 campaign with six goals and 12 assists from that role.

Arne Slot reprises Feyenoord shape

We’ve already seen Liverpool use a similar tactic to this in pre-season. Jones, part of the staggered double-pivot against Manchester United, scored having attacked the penalty area to convert a Mohamed Salah cross. Harvey Elliott, the right-sided midfielder, has been a revelation playing as an attacking midfielder.

On paper, the best three in midfield is probably Zubimendi as the deepest midfielder, Mac Allister on the left and Szoboszlai on the right.

But their playing profiles differ to those Slot has at Feyenoord. Szoboszlai could play as a creator on the right but does that make the most of his skill set? You could argue that he would be better suited to the box-to-box role on the left while Mac Allister would be better suited to the creative role in the final third.

It would ease the reliance on him to cover large space, after all. And Szoboszlai’s involvement in the staggered double pivot would make up for Zubimendi’s lack of pace.

Does Harvey Elliott deserve to miss out?

That trio, rejigged, might be the way forward. But Elliott doesn’t deserve to miss out, does he? He’s been one of the stars of pre-season and he’s shown that the right-sided role is perfect for him. But does he get in ahead of, say, Mac Allister? That is a debate to be had.

Jones is another who might feel he deserves a place in the midfield three while Gravenberch has the profile, with a bit of fine-tuning, to play any of the three roles.

At the minute, there’s no right or wrong answer as it is all theoretical, but Slot will soon know whether he’s made the wrong decision. He’s in an unenviable situation, yet, ironically, many managers in the Premier League are looking on enviously.