Premier League giants Liverpool are keeping tabs on Teun Koopmeiners and the Atalanta ace is blossoming into ‘the best midfielder’ in Serie A, former La Dea coach Bortolo Mutti tells Tuttomercatoweb.
Perhaps the most damning indictment of that 5-2 thumping by Real Madrid – the first time Liverpool have ever conceded five goals in a Champions League game – is that it didn’t exactly teach us anything new.
Forget Real Madrid; heavy defeats by the likes of Brentford, Brighton and Wolves had already shone a brutal light on a lack of legs and intensity in the heart of Jurgen Klopp’s bumbling, backfiring midfield.
The summer window, for Liverpool supporters, cannot come soon enough. But with Enzo Fernandez at Chelsea, with Jude Bellingham potentially a little rich for FSG’s blood, the men from Merseyside appear to be casting their their net a little wider with i News reporting that Liverpool are keeping tabs on the £35 million-rated Koopmeiners.
The Dutchman may not have a World Cup winners’ medal hanging around his neck like Enzo. He may lack Bellingham’s sparkling star quality. But, according to Mutti, there is no one better in his position anywhere in Italy.
And that is saying something; Manuel Locatelli, Nicolo Barella, Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, Sandro Tonali, Stanislav Lobotka and Lorenzo Pellegrini all currently plying their trade in Serie A.
Could Liverpool solve midfield problems with Teun Koopmeiners?
“Now there are many players (at Atalanta) who make the difference,” says Mutti. “Like Koopmeiners who is the best midfielder in the league. (He is) always present in every area of the pitch.”
A natural born leader and a remarkably complete footballer, Koopmeiners joined Atalanta in the summer of 2021 after a few highly-impressive seasons as the captain of Eredivisie outfit AZ Alkmaar. The left-footed playmaker, who can also fill in at centre-half, has six goals and three assists to his name this season, including one long-range rocket against Bologna.
At 24, Koopmeiners is also younger, fresher and quicker than the likes of Jordan Henderson, Fabinho and James Milner.
“A player with fantastic vision, excellent passing, powerful, and a natural leader. (A player) who is truly consistent in quality and mentality,” says Bert Baving, Koopmeiners’ agent. “For a coach, he is the perfect player to work with. An exemplary professional.
“It’s always difficult to make comparisons but he’s a Toni Kroos, Jorginho, (Nemanja) Matic or (Manuel) Locatelli-type. Only Teun will score more goals than any of these players.”
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