Liverpool could sign Jude Bellingham clone for next to…

Liverpool could sign Jude Bellingham clone for next to nothing

It’s understandable that managers purchase players from markets they know well. At Liverpool, Gerard Houllier often shopped in France, Rafa Benitez exploited his knowledge of La Liga, while Roy Hodgson bought old players nobody else wanted.

The Reds have taken a different approach in recent years. Jurgen Klopp hasn’t particularly targeted talent from his homeland, though some players have joined from German clubs during his time in England.

And of course, everyone connected with Liverpool hopes they sign an electric young midfielder from Borussia Dortmund this summer. With rumour and counter-rumour doing the rounds, it remains to be seen if Jude Bellingham will be wearing the famous red shirt next season. Either way, there’s a very similar player in a market Klopp has rarely tapped who they should be considering.

We’re talking about Ligue 1. The only player signed from France in the last seven years is Fabinho, though Klopp enjoyed memorable moments with former Lille forward Divock Origi too. Ahead of 2023/24, Liverpool need to look at Lorient’s Enzo Le Fee, a 23-year-old midfielder.

The French under-21 international is the most similar player to Bellingham in Europe’s big five leagues according to FBRef, and with only one year remaining on his contract he would command a much lower transfer fee. As an aside, it’s interesting to see Harvey Elliott is also one of the top statistical matches for the Dortmund man.

Remarkably, the data suggests Le Fee might arguably be better than Bellingham. The Lorient man is in the top 10 per cent of midfielders in the top leagues for 27 different metrics, where his counterpart in Germany holds that standing for 19. Whichever is the superior player or more suitable for Liverpool, they certainly possess many similar strengths.

The leading one they share concerns dribbling. Le Fee is in the top one percent of his positional peers, with an average of 4.13 take-ons attempted per 90 minutes, yet he is still 0.14 behind Bellingham, the continent’s top midfield dribbler.

Crucially, Le Fee is also productive when carrying the ball at his feet over at least five metres. Per Opta Analyst, he has created a chance following a carry 23 times this season. This puts him second only to Lionel Messi in France, and would be joint-top in the Premier League along with Bukayo Saka.

The one other metric for which Bellingham and Le Fee are both in the top 10 per cent of big league midfielders is an important one for the Liverpool manager: tackles in the attacking third. Despite Lorient having scored six league goals fewer than the Reds (and from two games more), they have netted four times after winning the ball in the final 40 metres of the pitch four times when Liverpool have done so just once. With Le Fee being his side’s second-best player for possession regains in the final third, he has likely contributed towards Klopp’s favourite playmaker, the counter-press.

It’s not all positive for Le Fee. He has been dribbled past by opposing players 60 times this season, at least 12 more than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues. Liverpool’s midfield has been sliced through far too easily at times in 2022/23 and adding a potential liability in this area wouldn’t solve this problem.

Equally, only four players in England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain have made more tackles this term, so he’s clearly in the thick of the action on a regular basis and being dribbled past is the price of doing business in that way. With Liverpool in desperate need of peak-age midfielders to reinvigorate the heart of their team, they could do a lot worse than completing a rare Ligue 1 deal for Le Fee.

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