Pep Lijnders Continues Red Bull Connection
Over the last five years, the path to Liverpool from Red Bull clubs has been well trodden. Sadio Mane made his name at Anfield after establishing himself in Europe at Red Bull Salzburg.
Naby Keita moved from RB Leipzig to Liverpool followed by Takumi Minamino who signed from Red Bull Salzburg to Jurgen Klopp’s side.
More recently we have seen Ibrahima Konate and Dominik Szoboszlai sign for Liverpool from RB Leipzig.
With Pep Lijnders set to take over at Red Bull Salzburg, and former Liverpool coach Vitor Matos named as his assistant, that connection will be continued between the two clubs.
Which is why Anfield Index has decided to take a look at five players who could end-up moving to Liverpool in the future after impressing with Lijnders’ Salzburg.
Luka Sucic
Sucic has always been on Liverpool’s radar. Still only 21 years old he has already made 128 appearances for Salzburg. Although that number should be a lot higher. Last year, Sucic’s 2022/23 campaign was curtailed by a serious knee injury which ruled him out for over six months.
He returned half way through the start of last season and it has taken him a while to get going.
But towards the second half of the season, it seems like he has finally returned to his best form.
In his last seven games he scored three goals and registered four assists from midfield and he will be expected to be the talisman in Lijnders’ team.
Full of energy and very technically gifted, Sucic fits the profile of what Liverpool looks for in their midfield targets. Having been followed by the club in the past, it would not be a surprise to see him being tracked by the club’s scouts next season, too.
Oscar Gloukh
Gloukh is an extremely gifted attacking midfielder. He was Salzburg’s main creative outlet during most of last season.
Out of his positional peers in the Austrian Bundesliga, no one averaged more key passes (1.23 per 90), passes into the penalty area (4.03 per 90) and had more expected assists (0.37 per 90).
In total, Gloukh scored nine goals and registered 18 assists for Salzburg in 40 appearances. He is undoubtedly one of the biggest prospects at the club right now and it’s going to be interesting to see how he develops under Lijnders.
Typically best suited to a number ten role, he might not have made the list if Arne Slot wasn’t coming in to Liverpool. However, with Slot’s preference to use a number ten, someone like Gloukh could be an excellent future addition to the team – especially with his impressive pressing ability.
Karim Konate
For now, Liverpool are hedging their bets on Darwin Nunez. However, in the future, it would not be a surprise to see the Reds bolster that position.
One player who should be on the club’s scouts’ radar is Karim Konate. He’s only recently turned 20 years old and scored 20 goals and registered eight assists in 38 appearances for Salzburg last season.
The year prior, he scored 15 goals and registered three assists in 18 appearances for the club’s feeder side, Liefering, in Austria’s second tier while also scoring six goals and registering two assists in seven UEFA Youth League appearances.
His output reflects that Konate is a prolific goal-scorer and the underlying numbers back that up. Out of forwards who averaged at least two shots per 90 in the Austrian Bundesliga – Konate has the best goal conversion rate (24.39%).
But Konate is more than just a finisher. He’s also very much capable of dropping back and helping to advance the ball. He ranks in the top five forwards for dribbles attempted (4.39 per 90) and progressive runs (1.82 per 90).
Being such a dynamic player and a clinical finisher makes him a very suited profile for Liverpool in the future.
Zeteny Jano
He’s often been likened to Dominik Szoboszlai due to him having a Hungarian citizenship (even though he represents Austria at youth international level) and it’s easy to see why.
Jano is an energetic midfielder with great technical qualities who is especially a threat from dead ball situations.
Last season, he made 15 goal contributions in 33 games and a total of 1959 minutes averaging a goal contribution 0.69 per 90 minutes.
Unlike his equally talented teammate Mousssa Yeo, Jano is yet to make his debut for Salzburg’s first team, but he should be beginning pre-season with Lijnders’ squad this summer.
Jano has recently turned 19 years old and the next challenge will be for him to break into Salzburg’s first team squad. If he can manage that and continue his output at senior level – Dominik Szoboszlai has already paved the route for him to Anfield.
Gaoussou Diakité
He only arrived at Salzburg at the end of the January transfer window, but he’s settled in very quickly.
Diakite caught the eye in Austria’s second tier for Liefering towards the end of last season. In 680 minutes, he scored four goals and registered three assists averaging a goal contribution every 97 minutes.
Typically, Diakite has been used as a winger for Liefering, where he has shown his brilliant and explosive one vs one ability. But for Mali’s youth national teams, he has predominantly played as a forward.
Extremely quick, Diakite is very good at running in behind defences. He was among just four players in Austria’s second tier to average eight dribbles per 90 (8.11) and completed an impressive 50% of his efforts.
He is a player who takes a high volume of shots (3.44 per 90 which is the second most in the league) however Diakite does need to refine his decision making in this area. Often times, he takes shots from outside the box when he would have been better off to lay it off to a teammate instead.
But overall, there is a lot to admire from Diakite and when you consider the type of forwards Lijnders has worked with at Liverpool, it would not be a surprise to see him thrive under Jurgen Klopp’s former assistant and ultimately attract the attention of Liverpool scouts as well.
