Liverpool's Pursuit of Alex Scott: The Midfield Dilemma
Liverpool’s search for steel at the base of midfield may not be over yet – and one name refuses to go away.
With the final week of the transfer window underway, pressure has been building on Richard Hughes to land a top-class number 6. Liverpool were far too easy to slice through in central areas last season, and the 2-2 draw at Newcastle on Sunday only sharpened the focus. The calls from supporters have grown louder. The team needs protection.
Reports on Monday suggested that protection might not be coming. James Pearce wrote in The Athletic that Liverpool’s hierarchy do not plan to sign a midfielder before the deadline, with their attention fixed on wide attacking options instead. That line painted a pretty clear picture: midfield business parked.
But the story isn’t quite that simple.
Alex Scott emerges as the ‘top target’
Miguel Delaney, writing in The Independent, says Liverpool do in fact have a “top target” for the holding role. Multiple sources have told him the player in question is Bournemouth’s Alex Scott.
That is not a casual link. It is a deliberate focus. Scott, just 23, has been identified as the preferred option to anchor Liverpool’s midfield going forward.
There is a catch. A big one.
Delaney reports a major “complication”: Bournemouth’s asking price, believed to be around £90m. Liverpool are not in a position to go that high. The sense around the deal is that the Reds may instead look to defer a serious move for Scott until next year.
That delay comes with obvious danger. Chelsea are monitoring the situation and are considering a late-window offer, even with Bournemouth adamant they will not sell in the final days of the window. Any deferral risks the kind of transfer tug-of-war Liverpool have lost before.
The right profile, at the wrong time
This is not the first time Scott’s name has been tied to Anfield. Back in early June, transfer reporter Alex Crook described a potential move to Liverpool as “one to watch”. Almost three months on, nothing concrete has materialised.
On the pitch, the attraction is clear. Scott is not a classic destroyer in the mould of Fabinho or N’Golo Kanté. He does not simply sit, tackle and recycle. Instead, his numbers from last season, via FotMob, underline a midfielder who thrives at regaining possession and then driving his team forward, either with his passing range or his dribbling.
He wins the ball. He progresses it. He links the phases. For a Liverpool side that has just lost Curtis Jones and still looks structurally vulnerable without a true specialist at the base, that blend is close to ideal.
The problem is timing. Bournemouth have taken a firm stance as the window ticks into its final stretch: Scott is not for sale. Liverpool, juggling other targets and aware of the Cherries’ position, may have accepted that forcing the issue in late August would be a waste of energy and leverage.
So the situation hangs there. A player who fits the profile almost perfectly. A club that will not budge. A price that Liverpool will not meet.
If the door so much as creaks open before the deadline, Liverpool will have to decide whether to smash through it now or risk watching Alex Scott walk into someone else’s midfield next summer.
