Arne Slot has reportedly urged the Liverpool hierarchy to consider signing one centre-back who impressed him when he came up against the Reds last season.
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After the Dutchman’s first Champions League game at Anfield (a 2-0 win over Bologna in October 2024), Sam Beukema – who played for the visitors that night – claimed that the LFC head coach went out of his way to praise his opponents.
The 27-year-old has since joined another Serie A outfit in Napoli, and it appears that Slot’s liking for him hasn’t diminished in the slightest.
According to Graeme Bailey for TEAMtalk, the Liverpool head coach has made no secret of his admiration of the Dutch defender to the Anfield hierarchy, who are said to be assessing him among numerous prospective centre-back additions in the summer.
The report claims that the presence of several Dutchmen in L4 is ‘viewed as a potential advantage’ in terms of helping Beukema to settle quickly if he were to join the Reds.
His contract at Napoli runs to 2030 and the Serie A champions are in no hurry to sell him, and it’d take offers of at least £30m if they were to even consider doing business.
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If Slot has urged Liverpool to move for his compatriot in the summer, it suggests that he very much expects to remain at Anfield going into next season, and he reportedly wanted to sign the defender when he was in charge of Feyenoord previously.
Data from Fotmob shows that Beukema is quite proficient on the ball when compared with other Serie A centre-backs this season, although he ranks poorly among his positional peers for many core defensive metrics such as tackles, interceptions and clearances.
An asking price of £30m for an experienced but not ageing defender playing for one of Italy’s foremost clubs may seem inviting on first glance, although his underlying statistics would suggest that there are better options on the market.
Liverpool’s immediate priority should be to renew Ibrahima Konate’s contract – that seems to be nearing completion, judging by the Frenchman’s recent comments – rather than allowing our number 5 to depart and replacing him with a gamble in Beukema.
Slot seems convinced that the Napoli centre-back is worth pursuing, but will sporting director Richard Hughes share that enthusiasm and duly act? We’ll simply have to wait and see how that transpires.