Liverpool Eye Kees Smit as January Midfield Target

Liverpool’s midfield rebuild might not be finished yet. Not if their latest scouting trip is anything to go by.

Club representatives were in the stands at the Stadium of Light on Tuesday night, watching AZ Alkmaar’s Kees Smit in a 1-0 defeat to Sunderland. The result was irrelevant. The 20-year-old Dutchman was not.

TeamTalk report that Liverpool, described as “long-term admirers” of Smit, were part of a sizeable Premier League delegation tracking the AZ midfielder in person. This wasn’t a casual look. This was a targeted check on a player whose name has been circling recruitment meetings for some time.

Smit started the game and, by the report’s account, “produced another eye-catching display” despite AZ being sunk by a late Enzo Le Fée penalty. That kind of outing is exactly what clubs want to see: a young midfielder still demanding the ball and influencing play when the night goes against his team.

They were far from alone. Chelsea, Tottenham, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa, Crystal Palace and Brighton all had scouts present, with Smit said to be the primary reason for the trip. When half a dozen Premier League clubs converge on the same player in the same midweek game, it usually signals more than background curiosity. This is an active race forming around a single talent.

A Rising Midfield Pivot in Alkmaar

Smit has been on a steep upward curve over the last 18 months. He has “emerged as one of Europe’s most exciting young midfield talents” and grown into a key figure in an AZ side sitting second in the Eredivisie.

His influence on AZ’s strong start has only hardened views across the continent. The report notes that his performances have kept him “firmly on the radar of clubs across the continent”, with “sustained interest from England for more than two years” since he broke into the first team in 2024.

This is not a case of one good game sparking a frenzy. It’s a long-term scouting operation reaching a critical phase.

There is already a price tag attached. Smit is described as a “€60m (£51.5m, $69m) rated star”, putting him squarely in the top bracket of young midfielders. Any club stepping forward in January knows two things: there will be competition, and there will be no bargain.

Iraola’s Midfield Question

What gives this story real bite from a Liverpool angle is the suggestion that the club are seriously weighing a winter signing in midfield.

According to TeamTalk, “The Reds are understood to be considering a mid-season swoop for a new midfielder”, with Andoni Iraola concerned that his current options are not fully capable of bringing “his high-intensity press demands to life.”

That line cuts to the heart of Liverpool’s identity under their new head coach. Iraola’s football lives on energy, aggression and repeated sprints to close space. If the staff feel there is a gap between the tactical plan and the tools in midfield, the logic of moving for a player like Smit becomes obvious.

The report claims Liverpool have already “shortlisted four potential options ahead of the January window” and that Smit “too can be added to that list.” No one is calling a deal imminent, but the pieces are aligning: long-standing admiration, clear tactical need, and live scouting as the window approaches.

If Liverpool decide they need a midfielder who can immediately raise the pressing level, Smit’s profile fits the brief.

Unfinished Business After a Quiet Summer

There is another layer to this. Smit “had been expected to make a move during the summer, but no transfer materialised despite strong interest from clubs across Europe.” That kind of stalled move rarely disappears. It usually rolls straight into the next window, especially when the player keeps performing and the interest remains “genuine and widespread”.

His recent omission from Ronald Koeman’s Netherlands squad is described as a disappointment, but crucially, “That setback has done little to diminish the interest” in him. If anything, his response at club level has sustained the momentum around his name.

So you have a 20-year-old midfield anchor, central to a high-flying AZ side, carrying a premium price tag, with a summer move that never quite happened and a cluster of English clubs circling again. It feels like a story waiting for a trigger.

For Liverpool, that trigger might be tactical as much as anything. If Iraola truly believes a new midfielder is required to ignite his pressing game, hesitation carries a cost – especially when Chelsea, Tottenham, Forest, Villa, Palace and Brighton have already put boots on the ground to watch the same player.

A £51.5m decision in January is not small change for a footballer still proving himself at the very top level. But the market for elite young midfielders has shifted, and waiting often makes the price – and the competition – worse.

Liverpool are watching Kees Smit closely. So are plenty of others. The question now is simple: do they turn admiration and data into a decisive move this winter, or risk seeing a key piece of their next midfield era line up somewhere else in the Premier League?