Julian Ward could be about to make a very damaging decision at Liverpool – Our View

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According to CalcioMercatoWeb, Liverpool could offer Kostas Tsimikas in a part-exchange deal to bring Adrien Rabiot to Anfield.

On paper, this sounds like a deal that makes a lot of sense. Liverpool need a midfielder, Tsimikas doesn’t get much of a game at left-back, and Rabiot is talented.

However, as we should all know by now, building a successful football team is about a lot more than putting 11 talented footballers on the same pitch.

Indeed, you need to have squad harmony, chemistry and a group that gets on behind the scenes, and that’s what Liverpool have done so well in recent years.

They’ve signed players with good heads on their shoulders and cultivated a winning atmosphere throughout the team.

While Kostas Tsimikas may not be the most important player at Liverpool. He seemingly is one of the most likable characters in the dressing room.

Fabinho spoke about how much of a good influence Tsimikas is when speaking to Sky Sports recently.

“Kostas Tsimikas the Greek Scouser. This guy is just crazy. He is always joking with everyone, he always looks to be happy and he’s the type of guy you want to have around you. He’s a really nice guy,” Fabinho said.

You can see from those comments just how important Tsimikas is in the dressing room, and swapping him for any player may be a bad idea.

However, swapping him for Rabiot could be nothing short of a disaster.

Indeed, while Tsimikas is a dressing room blessing, Rabiot, by all accounts, is poisonous.

His career is littered with incidents that have affected his relationships with his teammates.

In 2015 he clashed with Zlatan Ibrahimovic in a friendly. In 2019 he was suspended by PSG for two weeks after going to a nightclub after their Champions League defeat, while his mother and agent is also no stranger to controversy, clashing with coaches and the press in the past.

Swapping Tsimikas for Rabiot makes sense from a footballing perspective, but as an overall move, this could be one of the most damaging decisions Julian Ward makes.