Liverpool handed major transfer boost to sign new La Liga sensation from under the nose of Manchester City

Liverpool handed major transfer boost to sign new La Liga sensation from under the nose of Manchester City

Liverpool have been linked with Villarreal’s Alejandro ‘Alex’ Baena. He spent last season with Girona, who share owners with Manchester City.

Alejandro “Alex” Baena of Villarreal has been linked to a move to Liverpool, and according to the Spanish publication Sport, other teams like Arsenal, Chelsea, and Manchester City are also interested in acquiring him.

Alejandro “Alex” Baena of Villarreal (photo by Getty images)

Although the 21-year-old is off to a great start in 2022–2023, is he the genuine deal?

Baena has scored three La Liga goals this season from opportunities with a combined Statsbomb expectation value of 1.1. This is primarily due to the fact that he scored on both of his two shots, both of which were at least 19 yards from the goal during a 3-0 victory over Real Valladolid.

The only Liverpool player in the league last season to score twice from outside the box was Trent Alexander-Arnold.

Baena did so in under nine minutes, which is unrepeatable. He is, however, shown the ability to convert some improbable opportunities, like he did in the Europa Conference League.

He now ranks among the best players in Spain for all important attacking metrics over a 90-minute period, including shots, attempts on target, predicted goals other than penalties, and so on.

His performance in a few other match activities, though, gives an indication as to his strengths. While on loan with Girona last season, he showed some of them in the second tier, which suggests the respectable figures are here to remain.

Similar to the Villarreal youngster, despite just completing two through balls so far this season, that’s enough for a share of fifth place in La Liga thus far.

That may not mean much right now, but it helps to understand how he was able to generate 12 clear-cut opportunities in the previous campaign, which ranked seventh in the Spanish second division (per SofaScore).

Even if the quality of the game is plainly inferior there, just five players—including Alexander-Arnold and Mohamed Salah—topped that amount in the Premier League.

The scarse information that is available also implies that the under-21 international is comfortable playing defense. Last season, he recovered 0.9 possessions in the final third for every 90. (via FotMob).

Baena matched the numbers of Diogo Jota and Salah while falling short of Roberto Firmino’s genuinely absurd 1.8.

Given that he has already played all positions in a front three as well as in attacking midfield in his brief career, he might even be able to fill in for both players.

In other news, Liverpool transfer pursuit for Jude Bellingham could hit roadblock after Journalist reveals worrying development