Following some early settling in issues, Ozan Kabak has proven to be an impressive deadline day loan signing for Liverpool.
The Turkish central defender put the travails of the first half of his campaign with Schalke and an early mistake in Red behind him to earn a reasonable average Sofascore rating of 6.78 from nine Premier League outings.
Having shown dramatic improvements in a short period, Jurgen Klopp and co must now weigh up whether they want to activate a reported £18m clause to make the move permanent this summer.
As the Reds edge closer to the signing of RB Leipzig centre-back Ibrahima Konate, Kabak’s Anfield future has perhaps never looked more in doubt.
However, data analysis carried out by those at The Athletic would suggest Liverpool should not pass up the opportunity.
Twitter: Should Liverpool keep Ozan Kabak?
A closer look at the data would suggest he’s a more than viable option to have a… https://t.co/pcES2N1qwV (@CaoimheSport)
The figures suggest Kabak has similarities in playing style to a certain Virgil van Dijk, whilst particular strengths lie within ball retention and link-up play.
Meanwhile, defensive instincts also rank highly, with the 10 times-capped Turkish international proficient at intercepting attacks, aerial duels and impacting defensive moments.
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Given the horrendous injuries suffered to all three of Liverpool’s frontline central defenders this season – having sufficient options next term could be invaluable.
Both Joel Matip and Joe Gomez have rather dubious injury records moreover, whilst van Dijk’s problem was of such magnitude it’s hard to imagine there would be no lasting effects.
For those reasons Klopp should be keen to have at least five top-class options at his disposal – one of which should be Kabak.
