Don't let Chelsea get him! Liverpool offered chance to hijack incredible deal

Liverpool have a chance to hijack a Chelsea deal but they're running out of time. It's something they simply have to do.

Liverpool need a midfielder. That should have been pretty clear to most already but Sunday's draw at Newcastle United hammered the point home in spectacular fashion.

The Reds were porous in the middle of the pitch, unable to stop counter-attacks and Newcastle consistently got chances to run directly at the back line. Having someone to stand in the middle would make a gigantic improvement to Liverpool's team as none of their current midfielders naturally do that.

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But it's not easy to find a midfielder this late in a transfer window. Clubs don't like to sell when there's not really any chance of finding a suitable replacement - even if the offer is a good one.

It's why we can't fathom why Liverpool would pass up the chance to sign Lamine Camara. We're massive fans of the player - he's about as solid as it gets, with proven quality over multiple seasons, is still only 22...

There are very few midfielders in Europe who can simultaneously take on a large portion of the defensive workload and create chances for his team. Camara is arguably the best at it.

In fact, he's the only midfielder in the top five leagues who's in the top 10 per cent for share of the defensive workload and top 10 per cent for creating big chances for 25/26. And again, he's 22.

The truly mad thing about the above chart, though, is that the 24/25 chart is remarkably similar. Again, Camara was the only player to be in the top 10% for both metrics. So he's done that for two seasons in a row.

The other way of putting that is this: Camara is about as sure-fire a success as you can get with a transfer. He does everything to an above-average level for a top-five-league midfielder and is truly elite at the exact things Liverpool are after.

And here's the mad thing: he's available! Foot Mercato is one of several outlets reporting that Chelsea are pushing forward on a deal for Camara and that Liverpool have been offered a deal .

The Reds appear set to ignore this one, though, and move onto other targets. Camara, who would be perfect, looks set to join Chelsea as Liverpool sign an alternative - despite the fact any alternative would be more difficult to sign and almost certainly a worse fit.