We don’t necessarily need to come up with a wildcard formation that crams all the new signings into the same team.
If all goes well Liverpool will play over 60 games next season, meaning they will need a regularly rotating front line to keep legs fresh and opponents guessing.
Ekitike as a £69m cover option probably doesn’t sound very appealing, but he will arguably be the second-best player in four separate positions for Liverpool – although Szoboszlai, rivalling Wirtz, might say otherwise.
When you consider injuries, the need to rotate for twice-weekly football, and Slot’s tactical adaptations to the opposition, Ekitike could easily tot up over 30 starts in all competitions even if he wasn’t technically considered to be in the club’s best XI.
Not that managers of elite clubs tend to think in terms of ‘best XIs’ anymore – schedules are too busy and injuries too common for that.
In fact, what fans assume to be their team’s best XI rarely actually play together, as many Liverpool supporters know all too well.
The most mind-blowing example of this phenomenon was first highlighted by Duncan Alexander,, external who pointed out that the supposedly-iconic Liverpool XI under Klopp – the one that started the Champions League final – had never played together before that game and never played together after it.
So, how do you solve the riddle? How do you get all of Liverpool’s new signings into the same team? Answer: you don’t.
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