This article is part of Football FanCast’s In Numbers series, which takes a statistical look at performances, season-long form and reported transfer targets…
Jurgen Klopp is blessed to have two world-class full-backs at his disposal at Liverpool.
Both Andrew Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been a huge part of their 2018/19 success, both on the domestic scene and in Europe.
The Scottish left-back managed to tally 13 assists across all competitions last season while his right-back teammate had 16 along with one goal as well. By all standards, those are some impressive figures for two defenders.
Watch Liverpool Videos With StreamFootball.tv Below
And this season is looking to be much more of the same – Robertson is already on five assists and two goals while Arnold can boast six assists and one goal.
With all of that being said, Klopp’s summer pursuit of Junior Firpo, who was reportedly a target for both the Reds and Manchester United as per Marca, seems rather unnecessary in hindsight and in many ways represents a dodged bullet.
[ad_pod ]
The young left-back ended up going to Barcelona for a reported figure that could reach a total of £27.5m.
When we compare Firpo’s figures with Robertson in the ongoing campaign, the 25-year-old Scot posts some impressive numbers in comparison.
Robertson can boast 1.8 tackles and 1.5 interceptions per game, which is actually pretty close to Firpo’s tally of 1.7 and 1.3 per game respectively.
Still, when it comes to the attacking contribution, Firpo’s one goal in 2019/20 can hardly compare to his rival’s five assists and two goals, not to mention that Liverpool’s left-back has also averaged 1.4 key passes and 0.9 shots per game.
Meanwhile, Barcelona’s full-back only has 0.7 key passes and 0.4 shots per game under his belt.
Even if we level the playing field and compare their figures from 2018/19 when Firpo was playing more regular football, he still falls behind with his three goals and four assists in La Liga, compared to Robertson’s 11 assists in the Premier League.
The player choosing to stay in Spain for the foreseeable future might have seemed like a blow back in the summer but now, seeing how he’s nowhere close the level Klopp requires his full-backs to be, it could be perceived as a blessing in disguise.
Elsewhere, many Spurs fans were heavily discussing one of the latest updates on Mauricio Pochettino…