Liverpool have golden chance to complete genius transfer | OneFootball

Liverpool is a club that prides itself on making the best decisions in the market.

We've seen this time and time again. Under Michael Edwards, the Reds took a punt on Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and countless other players.

The club's recruitment team ignored the noise around these players. They went with not only what the data showed but the eyes confirmed.

A lot of people seem to think Liverpool only rely on data in their recruitment. Whereas the reality is that they merely use data as a tool.

The truth is a lot more balanced. Scouts on the ground still play a key role and Edwards and Hughes will also watch hours of tape meticulously before making a judgement on a player.

This extensive research is what makes Liverpool the champions of what they do.

It's why they opted to sign Hugo Ekitike above Viktor Gyokeres, Benjamin Sesko and others, despite the hype that surrounded his positional peers.

This brings us onto Liverpool who it has been reported are scouting Dylan Lawlor, who is one of the best young centre-backs in the EFL.

It's no secret that Liverpool need depth in the centre-back department. The Reds have just two fit centre-back options available at the moment.

Lawlor is not a profile, who would fix this problem. He's only 19-years-old and needs time to develop. Does he have the ceiling to reach the heights of Liverpool?

Absolutely.

What makes him such a stand-out player is his ability and composure on the ball. He's almost like a quarter-back in defence for Cardiff City, regularly looking to thread the ball through and make valuable progressive passes between the lines.

Unfortunately, this does come with an element of risk and it does mean that as a young player you can get caught out. This is what happened to Lawlor in the EFL Cup against Chelsea on Tuesday night.

Misjudged pass attempt allowed Chelsea to score, and probably tainted perceptions of Lawlor. On social media, he has got a bit of criticism for that moment.

It's not anything to be overly worried about from a scouting perspective though. Lawlor's performance on the whole was actually very impressive if you take that moment away from the game. Mistakes are a part of football, but they don't define you as a player.

What was appealing from a scouting perspective is how Lawlor bounced back from the mistake. He didn't shy away and put in a strong defensive performance, winning 2/2 aerial duels, 2/2 tackles while making four clearances four recoveries.

He also continued to play his game, making attempts to play the ball through the lines and succeeding. On the whole, he made seven passes into the opposition's final third, completed 91% of his passes (59/65) and three out of four long passes.

Some of the big clubs may have gone away thinking about him negatively after that performance but the opposite is the case.

Both mentally and in terms of his playing style Lawlor impressed.

The negative perception that may linger around him actually gives Liverpool a golden chance to pull off a genius move by capitalising on the potential diminished hype and striking a deal with Cardiff now.

What the Chelsea game might have showed is that Lawlor still needs a bit of time to grow and develop, so the ideal situation would be to agree a fee with Cardiff for a future transfer and send him there back on loan.

Long-term, he could ultimately solve Liverpool's depth and potentially become a key player for the team.