Liverpool have a chance to secure Europe's most exciting attack. It will mean stealing a €100m player from under Chelsea's noses, though.
Liverpool have seen a change in transfer plans post-Jurgen Klopp but it's debatable whether they were right to shake things up. Things did work rather well under Klopp, after all.
But the Reds moved away from the idea of buying the 'right' player for gaps in the squad. Instead, they now like to buy the best player available, regardless of his position, and then ask a head coach to make things work with as much talent as possible.
That's how you end up with two very similar strikers, no defensive midfielders, four left-wingers and zero right-wingers. And a centre-back playing at right-back while the right-back you bought is deemed unable to play right-back.
It's very much a 'throw money at players until it works' approach, which is a solid one to guarantee yourself European football every year. It's very difficult to 'fail' with this approach, as your floor basically sits at around 6th or 7th (unless you're so bad at it that you consistently throw money at bad players i.e Manchester United).
The Nico Paz plan
This approach is why it makes sense to sign Nico Paz even though there's no real place for him in the team. But if the idea is signing the best player available, that is Paz.
The Argentine exploded into form last season and was one of the best players in Europe, albeit quietly so. Our Value Adder model has him as the fifth-most valuable player in Europe's top five leagues last season - yes, he might be slightly overvalued there but it hopefully highlights just how good he really is.
Paz wasn't just an elite attacking player, after all, but also an elite defensive one. He was the best defensive attacking midfielder in Italy by an absolute mile, in fact putting him in that group for defensive work is doing him a disservice. He's essentially one of the best defensive players in Italy but from a forward position.
The 22-year-old is simply a sensational all-around talent and it's why Real Madrid sold him back to Como in the summer with an increased buy-back clause. That now sits at €80m, per TuttoMercatoWeb, but Chelsea are apparently willing to spend €100m to get him.
Liverpool can't let that happen. Paz is the kind of player that comes along very, very rarely and also feels like a natural fit alongside Florian Wirtz in a strikerless formation.
Two Roberto Firmino's, essentially, with players who attack space and force openings with high levels of movement.
If Paz is available, there is no question at all that he'll be the best player Liverpool can sign next summer. Their plan has been to follow that path over the last couple of years.