‘I’m told’: Fabrizio Romano now reacts to reports Liverpool are scouting £51.4m centre-half

Empire of the Kop

·18 April 2024

‘I’m told’: Fabrizio Romano now reacts to reports Liverpool are scouting £51.4m centre-half

Fabrizio Romano has noted it’s difficult to determine who Liverpool are specifically scouting over in Frankfurt.

The Merseysiders dispatched scouts to monitor the situation over in Hesse. £42.8-51.4m valued defender Willian Pacho is thought to be a potential subject of interest for English top-flight sides.

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The Metro reported that the Reds and Arsenal have made inquiries over the centre-half’s future.

“I spoke yesterday about how they have been monitoring Eintracht Frankfurt, but it’s not really about specific players. It’s normal for top clubs like this to send their scouts to monitor entire teams, but it’s too early to report on anything more than that,” the CaughtOffside columnist wrote in his Daily Briefing.

“So, although there have also been stories about Liverpool enquiring about Eintracht’s talented Ecuador defender Willian Pacho, along with Arsenal, I have no concrete updates about specific clubs.

“It’s true that Pacho has a price tag of around €50-60m and it looks like an open race for his signature this summer. I’m told nothing is at concrete or advanced stages with English clubs.”

Jurgen Klopp’s men are understood to be keen on the idea of bolstering their backline this summer. This will sharpen into focus should the German’s replacement opt for a back-three formation.

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What do the stats say about Pacho?

The 22-year-old centre-half is, it’s worth noting from the off, a left-sided option in the backline.

It’s something we very much crave given the lack of cover for Virgil van Dijk in the Liverpool back four.

Willian Pacho of Frankfurt – (Photo by Christian Kaspar-Bartke/Getty Images)

The Ecuadorian boasts some pretty impressive defensive metrics for Frankfurt, registering in the 80s of percentiles for tackles, interceptions, blocks and clearances, according to FBref.

One major point of concern we have is Pacho’s passing ability, with his average pass completion rate per 90 of 84.4% putting him in the 39th percentile amongst his positional peers in Europe.

Van Dijk, by contrast, is in the 92nd percentile for pass completion (91.8% per 90).

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