Koumetio could provide Liverpool with a new option

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Fabinho. Jordan Henderson. Nathaniel Phillips. Rhys Williams. Ozan Kabak. These are the players that Jurgen Klopp has turned to in order to fill the void created by the season ending injuries to Virgil Van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip.

Add in the January deadline day purchase of Ben Davies from Preston and it is abundantly clear that reinforcements were needed after the heart was ripped out of Liverpool’s defence. Klopp has fielded 19 different partnerships this season such has been the misfortune at play.

Billy Koumetio has been called upon on a handful of occasions, making the bench for the Community Shield encounter with Arsenal and the Champions League clash with Atalanta. The Frenchman then played 45 minutes in the dead rubber against Danish side Mijdtylland in the same competition.

This was the youngster’s first appearance for the senior Reds’ team and on the basis of his performances for the Anfield club’s underage sides, it won’t be his last.

Born in Lyon in the East of France, Koumetio played in the club’s youth setup before switching to Orleans. It was there that the young man caught the eye of the Liverpool scouts before signing for the club in November 2018.

Koumetio has since been deployed mainly for the under-18’s but this season has broken into Barry Lewtas’ under-23 side and now features regularly at the heart of the defence.

Against West Ham on Saturday, Koumetio showed glimpses of what persuaded Liverpool to sign him in the first place and the attributes that have a lot of Liverpool fans hopeful that he will be the next to make the breakthrough from the academy.

Standing at six feet five inches tall, Koumetio is a very imposing figure physically, particularly for someone who has only just recently turned eighteen. The fact that he is only such a young age makes his frequent appearances in the Premier League 2 all the more impressive.

The young defender isn’t the most vocal player but wasn’t found wanting positionally and was adept at playing the offside trap which would be crucial should he make the step up to regular first team minutes. Klopp will undoubtedly want more in terms of communication but, still learning his trade, this will certainly come.

As well as the obvious physical strengths, what really stands out when it comes to Koumetio is his ability on the ball. In the modern game more is expected of defenders than just keeping the opposition strikers out. Competence and confidence in possession is key and there is very little place in the modern game for old-school type defender.

At times against West Ham, Koumetio was operating like a playmaker out of defence. In the early going he was attempting long balls in behind the Irons’ defence which Layton Stewart was looking to latch on to. These weren’t just hopeful punts either but measured, searching passes.

Koumetio was very comfortable carrying the ball out of defence as Tom Clayton dropped into defence to give the Frenchman the freedom to roam. This ball-carrying ability sparked memories of Daniel Agger launching attacks in the Rafael Benitez days.

The highlight of the match from Koumetio’s perspective has to be the pass that released Owen Beck towards the end of the match. Having picked the ball up around the halfway line, Koumetio looked up and played a defence splitting pass in behind West Ham right back Bernardo Rosa and sent Beck away. Unfortunately nothing came of it as Liverpool searched for a winner.

The vision, confidence and sheer ability to make the pass was highly impressive. As is Koumetio’s ability to use either foot. It is infuriating watching footballers whose weaker foot is for standing on only. Koumetio is equally adept on left or right, showing his class by switching play with his right foot with the pass inch perfect.

Another striking moment in the game saw West Ham on a counter attack down the right coming up against Koumetio. His sheer presence slowed the play down and forced West Ham backwards. It was similar to what Van Dijk has done in the past few years in sapping the confidence from the opponent.

Koumetio made way in the final couple of minutes to be replaced by Remi Savage but the teenager can be happy with another solid afternoon towards his development. The France under-18 international will be aiming to secure his place for the rest of the campaign and on this evidence he shouldn’t have any worries.

There is a school of thought among Liverpool fans that Koumetio could have made a difference this season but Klopp didn’t call on him as he knew it would be a tough situation and a loss of confidence could harm his development.

His time will come and a proper pre-season this summer will almost certainly see him joining up with the first-team and getting some minutes in friendlies.

Liverpool clearly need to sign another centre back but in Koumetio they have someone who could save them millions in the future. League Cup appearances next season may showcase his talent to a wider audience.

The sky is definitely the limit for this supremely talented youngster.

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