Liverpool have known to be admirers of the 24-year-old Italian Lorenzo Insigne and have been linked with the attacking midfielder for quite some time now. There were reports earlier that Insigne had decided to snub the chance of joining the Premier league giants and stay at his boyhood club.
However, things change pretty fast in football and Insigne reportedly left the ground in tears after he was taunted by the Napoli fans for missing a penalty against Besiktas in the Champions League. Apart from this, the Italian has also been in prolonged contract talks with his current club. While Insigne has demanded a high wage of 100k pounds a week, the club owner Aurelio De Laurentiis is not quite willing to give it.
As per reports from the Mirror in their Thursday edition, Liverpool have been investigating Insigne’s situation after his contract situation was blown out of proportion.
However, the Reds have to fight the likes of Tottenham Hotspur and Arsenal who have also shown interest in the Italian for long.
A central attacking midfielder, who is right-footed and could play both from the centre and through the left flank, Insigne is on course to become a lethal attacker. His pace and stamina could be a huge plus for Klopp’s tactics of playing, who believes in changing defence to attack in a blink of an eye. Insigne is a versatile attacker and will fit the blueprint that Klopp demands, which is for the players to be comfortable in different roles and make things difficult for their opposition while defending. The trio of Coutinho, Firmino and Lallana have done that brilliantly so far this season.
Insigne has appeared 6 times for Napoli this season and has 1 assist till now. He made a man of the match performance for his side against Bologna last month.
One of Insigne’s biggest weaknesses would be his physicality, however. The Italian is only 162 cm high and weighs only 59 kilos, which means he can easily get outmuscled by the physical Premier League defenders. Premier league demands physicality of the highest level, which is one of the main attributes of getting back the ball. With that missing, Insigne could be behind most players who might be lacking his technical prowess but are physically capable.
Now, Insigne is already 24 years old and can no more be considered a youngster. And being the left-footed attacking forward that Insigne is, he could fit on the right wing in Klopp’s team. However, considering the current form that Sadio Mane is at present, it would difficult for Insigne to break into the first team.
But Klopp is known to bring the best out of players and given how he has successfully placed James Milner as the side back making him effective in that role after years in the Premier league at a midfield role, Insigne can expect to grow under the German. As mentioned before, though, Liverpool are already a weak team when it comes to set pieces and the Insigne’s addition, no matter how much potency it’ll add to the attack, will only make things worse when they are defending set pieces.
