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Liverpool are in the market for another midfielder and recent reports have linked them with Crystal Palace‘s Cheick Doucouré.
The Athletic has been one of those making that link in recent weeks, so the player could soon be heading to Anfield – if the Reds get their way, of course.
But who is Doucouré, and more importantly, just how good is he? Football FanCast has taken a look into the data for everything you need to know.
Doucouré is a Malian player who spent the early part of his career with RC Lens. He started his professional career there in 2018, with the club sitting in Ligue 2.
Two seasons at that level saw them promoted, though, and Doucouré continued to impress in France’s top flight. Those performances earned him a move to Crystal Palace last summer in a deal worth up to £26m.
Doucouré is a defensive midfielder, with WhoScored’s data placing him in either deep midfield or a more traditional centre-midfield role. No matter where he is, the Malian is all about winning the ball back and protecting his back four.
That would be the primary reason Liverpool sign him if they can find a deal with Palace.
Doucouré is a defence-first player. He averages a little over one shot per 90 minutes, says FBref data, while he’s rarely involved in build-up play. Again, the data shows this – the 23-year-old is directly involved in creating under two shots per 90. That’s very, very low.
His passing perhaps explains that best. Doucouré only passed it into the penalty area 11 times last season, while he averaged under five progressive passes – which are forward passes of at least 10 yards – per 90.
It won’t be a surprise to learn that he doesn’t dribble often, either – he only attempted to dribble past someone 21 times last term.
What you get, then, is a player who focuses almost entirely on stopping the opposition.
So bearing in mind what Doucouré wants to do, it’s easy to see why Liverpool are interested. His standout stat is in interceptions, where the player averages 1.8 per 90 – that’s in the top 3% of midfielders across Europe’s top 5 leagues.
And it’s defensive stats across the board that also stand out here. Doucouré is within the top 15% of midfielders for tackles in the final third and the percentage of dribblers tackled, as well as in combined tackles and interceptions.
Overall tackles won are also a highlight, where he places in the top 13%, as does his ability to recover loose balls, which ranks among the top 25%. It’s not often you find a player capable of doing all of this to a high level.
It’s worth mentioning that Doucouré is consistent with the ball, too. While he rarely tries to take players on, he’s very successful at it when he does – only 4% of midfielders are more successful.
He’s reliable on the ball, averaging under one mis-control per 90 (placing in the 74th percentile) and is in the 83rd percentile for touches in the defensive third.
All in all, Doucouré is an incredibly consistent player – and one with a very bright future.
Doucouré is still only 23 and all of these impressive stats came in his debut Premier League season. Not only that, but Palace weren’t especially consistent last time out, even changing their manager halfway through.
As part of a more consistent side – and with extra Premier League experience under his belt – there’s every reason to believe that Doucouré can improve quite a lot, even next season – whether that’s at Selhurst Park or Anfield.
This is a big concern for Liverpool fans, of course. The Reds have had some excellent midfielders in recent years, though pretty much all of them have battled serious injuries – or simply had to contend with a lit of time in the treatment room.
Doucouré is actually quite exceptional in that regard. Transfermarkt has him down as suffering just one notable injury in his entire career up to now – a muscle problem back in early 2021 – and that only saw him miss one game.
There were some mild ‘fitness’ issues at the start of the 2019/20 season, but that’s your lot.
As per The Athletic’s article on the Reds’ interest, Doucouré would essentially replace Fabinho in the squad.
The Brazilian is expected to leave for Saudi Arabia in a £40m deal to Al-Ittihad, with the midfielder undergoing a medical earlier this week and being left out of the club’s pre-season trip to Singapore.
Fabinho is essentially the only out-and-out defensive midfielder in Jurgen Klopp’s squad. Doucouré is a natural replacement, then, and the Reds would arguably do very well to find someone better suited to the job.
This one’s quite interesting as change appears to be on the horizon at Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp has typically used a very versatile midfield, opting for multi-faceted players in the centre of the park.
Indeed, the acquisitions of Dominik Szoboszlai and Alexis Mac Allister have already been noted signings of that ilk.
Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum were the best examples of that in the Reds’ Champions League and Premier League-winning side. Both players could be solid defenders, while both were comfortable in their possession games, too. And, of course, they had the energy to press high and play at pace.
But Liverpool have moved to rebuild their midfield this season, bringing in Szoboszlai and Mac Allister as the likes of Henderson, James Milner and Naby Keita all departed.
The new Reds pair are much more attacking than former Reds such as Henderson or Wijanldum, suggesting Klopp wants to be more proactive and creative with his midfield.
Such a gameplan would require a covering player in defender to sit behind them. That, really, would be Doucouré’s role – he’d likely be asked to sit deep and cover for two players who want to be on the front foot – particularly when taking the stats into account.
Indeed, he appears perfectly suited to do just that.
Doucouré isn’t the only young, energetic defensive midfielder to be linked with clubs this summer. Moisés Caicedo is also supposedly wanted and has been linked with Liverpool in the past.
A look into the data shows a mix of similarities and big differences. The standout of the latter is that Caicedo is just far more accomplished on the ball.
As per FBref, he averages over 20 more touches per 90 minutes, and not only does he attempt over 24 more passes but he completes them at a higher percentage.
But it’s the fact that they’re so similar defensively is perhaps why Liverpool will believe they’re finding a gem with Doucouré. The Malian wins more interceptions than Caicedo, while his tackling is notably better, too.
The Brighton man does make more tackles overall, but importantly, Doucouré wins possession on more occasions. He also clears the ball twice as often as Caicedo, while also committing fewer errors.
It’s easy to see why there’s so much hype around Caicedo as his stats, overall, appear more impressive – and he’s still just 20.
But if you’re after an out-and-out defensive midfielder as Liverpool are, there’s a very good case to be made for Doucouré – when it comes to the data, at least.
Capology has Doucouré down as earning around £60k per week – but we imagine that salary would climb quite a bit if he were to join Liverpool.
For comparison, that’s the same figure Adrían earns at Anfield, again per Capology, and only six players earn less than that on the red half of Merseyside. Szoboszlai reportedly earns twice that and it’s very possible that Doucouré would demand a pay packet of a similar level.
BBC reporter Alex Howell understands that Crystal Palace would want around £70m in order to sell Doucouré this summer. That’s a big increase on the £26m they dealt for just a year ago.
But in their defence, Liverpool apparently see that as a fair price. It would now come down to whether the Reds can actually pay it, and whether Doucouré is the player they ultimately decide to sign.
Before the offer for Fabinho, Liverpool were linked quite heavily with Southampton’s Romeo Lavia. The Reds are currently thought to be keen on moving quickly for the Belgian amid potential competition emerging from rivals Chelsea.
There has also been talk of Khephren Thuram at OGC Nice, per Sky Sports, even if links to him have died down a little in recent weeks. Melissa Reddy has also previously named Sofyan Amrabat, Ryan Gravenberch and Kalvin Phillips as ‘mooted’ Fabinho successors.
In other words, there are options galore right now and it’s not completely clear who Liverpool could move for.
The Reds went into this summer needing to reinvest in their midfield. They’ve done just that, with almost certainly others to come.
But there have been tentative links to centre-backs, too. Joe Gomez’s future isn’t too clear, while Joel Matip’s contract expires next summer. A new addition there may be surprising if no one were to leave but it’s one to keep an eye out for.
Attacking options seem set for now, even with Roberto Firmino departing. Though, Saudi Arabian interest in Luis Díaz could prove problematic if they were to turn his head at all. Again, that’s one to watch out for as the transfer window thunders on.
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