The ‘Metz Kylian Mbappe’

“For the whole team, when you have a goalscorer, it’s the most joyous thing. Mikautadze isn’t Kylian Mbappé, but he’s FC Metz’s Mbappé!” Metz’s manager, Laszlo Boloni, declared back in April of this year after Georges Mikautadze’s goal against Le Havre.

The Romanian manager of Hungarian ethnicity knows a thing or two about talent. He’s the man who discovered Cristiano Ronaldo, and gave him his league debut at Sporting CP. Boloni also worked with the likes of Raphael Varane and Petr Cech before they moved onto Real Madrid and Chelsea, respectively.

Now at Metz, he’s been able to get the best out of Mikautadze, who has scored 38 goals and registered 15 assists in 62 matches under Boloni, and has gone onto catch the eye at Euro 2024 for Georgia.

Currently, Mikautadze is the top-scorer of the tournament having scored three goals and registered one assist in three matches.

With Metz’s relegated, he’s bound to be on the move this summer and Liverpool would be smart to put him on the club’s transfer shortlist.

Mikautadze’s profile

We’ve seen at Euro 2024 what Mikautadze is all about. He’s been playing at the tip of Georgia’s attack, forming an explosive and exciting partnership with Khvicha Kvaratskhelia.

Both attackers are quick and comfortable at taking on their opponents – perfect for a transitional side like Georgia who are built on creating counter attacks to catch out the opposition.

But there is much more to Mikautadze than just directness and speed. He’s very technically gifted and a tactically smart and astute attacker who knows how to find space inside the opposition’s penalty area.

Still only 23 years old, he has made 92 goal contributions in 138 games in his club career in total – an average of a goal or assist every 123 minutes.

What are Mikautadze’s strengths?

Mikautadze’s one vs one ability definitely stands out as one of his strengths. He has a brilliant first touch and is very technically gifted – capable of excelling in one vs one situations and working his way out of tight spaces.

Out of strikers last season in Europe’s top five leagues – only Victor Boniface (5.89 per 90) averaged more dribbles than Mikautadze (5.59 per 90) as per Wyscout.

Predominantly, playing as a striker – he also excels inside the box. Mikautadze is a fantastic finisher.

Taking a look at U23 forwards who averaged at least two shots per 90 minutes in Europe’s top five leagues last season – only Benjamin Sesko (31.81%) and Erling Haaland (24.1%) had a better goal conversion rate than Mikautadze – 22.4%.

In total, Mikautadze averaged 0.62 goals per 90 minutes for Metz last season – which ranks him among the top 10 U23 forwards in Europe’s top five leagues. He is the only one to make the list playing in a relegated team last season – making his productivity all the more impressive.

Why didn’t things work out for him at Ajax?

Last season, Mikautadze spent the first six months of the campaign at Ajax after moving there from Metz.

His time in the Netherlands was less than successful. It wasn’t helped that Mikautadze arrived at Ajax during a turbulent time with the club enduring one of its worst starts to the season in its history.

That made it all the more difficult for Mikautadze to shine. He wasn’t given a lot of opportunities. In total, he started just three games in all competitions and played 345 minutes for Ajax.

Much of that time was spent with Mikautadze playing out of position. At Ajax, he was used as a midfielder in a three-man midfield. He’d get the ball a lot deeper and wasn’t able to get into the box as often as he would when playing as a striker, thus limiting the impact of one of his strongest assets – his finishing.

All in all, he was miss profiled, misused and hardly given a chance, which is why he wasn’t a success at Ajax – a bit like why Mohamed Salah failed to impress at Chelsea.

Why he makes sense for Liverpool

Ajax’s loss will be Metz’s gain. The French side have made Mikautadze’s stay permanent this summer after loaning him from Ajax in January. However, Mikautadze is unlikely to stay with Metz in Ligue 2.

He will be expected to move on, and he will be available for a relatively low transfer fee. Metz have signed him for just £11m and there are suggestions they would be happy to take only double that price to sell him.

Liverpool are on the hunt for another attacker – and with the club having struggled to put chances away last season, having someone like Mikautadze with a track record of posting high conversion rates makes him an ideal and cheap option.

In Slot’s system, Mikautadze would be capable of playing anywhere across the front three. He’d be suited to playing a role similar to that of Roberto Firmino, but could also provide support in behind Darwin Nunez in a front two – a bit like how Calvin Stengs and Ayase Ueda were used under Slot at Feyenoord in certain matches last season. He’s also comfortable playing on the left-wing and could play a role similar to that of Diogo Jota in that position.

In addition to his finishing, Mikautadze also has great work-rate off the ball. He’s shown that in the matches at Euro 2024, dropping deep to help his teammates out. Last season, he also ranked in the 86th percentile as per FBref for recoveries per 90 (3.52).

All the above makes him an excellent fit for Liverpool, and someone who should be on the club’s shortlist this summer.