Liberate Salah! Liverpool buys Wilz + Ekitic

In the 2024/25 season, Salah played the most productive season of his Liverpool career. In many aspects, this Egyptian star is a hero under Slott, and often destroys opponents' defenses alone and secures the victory for the Red Army.

Salah scored 29 goals and sent 18 assists in the Premier League this season, while winning the Golden Boot Award and assists. He scored decisive or winning goals in nine wins for the Reds, earning almost 27 points for the team with his key goal contribution. Liverpool has largely relied on Salah's outstanding performance that it was able to make great strides in the 2024/25 Premier League season.

However, the Reds also feel like they are overly reliant on the 31-year-old forward. Before Salah signs a new contract extension, the tension surrounding his future means his top performance is almost "donoring" that the Liverpool board must give him a generous new contract.

Liverpool management seems to realize that relying heavily on Salah in another full season may pose a risk to their ambitions to compete for multiple important championships. Therefore, Fenway Group finally decided to spend a huge amount of money to sign Wilz and Ekitic to strengthen Slot's forward strength.

Wilz and Ekitic will be in full force in the 2024/25 Bundesliga?

Although Slot has never coached the Bundesliga in the past, he obviously believes that the players in the league can fit perfectly into his system. That's why Liverpool signed three players from the Bundesliga this summer. Werz and Ekitic were one of the most efficient players in their respective positions last season.

Wilz made his mark in Leverkusen, helping the team win the 2023/24 Bundesliga championship with an unbeaten record. Although his team failed to defend their title last season, Wilz contributed 10 goals and 13 assists in 31 league games.

Last season, Bayern Munich winger Olisse had higher assists than Werz. No other midfielder in the league has more assists than him, and Musiara is the only midfielder to score more goals than him. Throughout his Bundesliga career, the 22-year-old made 140 appearances for Leverkusen and directly participated in 82 goals (35 goals and 47 assists).

Meanwhile, Ekitic played for only one and a half seasons in the Bundesliga. Despite this, he still had a significant impact in the 2024/25 season. Ekitic scored 15 goals in the Bundesliga last season, with only five players scoring more goals than him. He also sent 8 assists, making him the sharpest forward in Frankfurt.

But Ekitic's value is not limited to goal contribution. He is an all-around forward in pushing the team into the offensive third and into the excellent scoring area. Among the five major European leagues, the Frenchman is one of only five players who can touch more than 200 times in the opponent's penalty area, complete 100+ shots and 50+ successful passes.

Only Salah of Liverpool did this last season, which showed Ekitic's high participation in dangerous areas, further amplifying his ability to contribute to goals.

What are the outstanding features of Liverpool's new players compared to existing players?

The reason why Liverpool spent a huge amount of money to sign Wilz and Ekitic is because they have a significant upgrade compared to existing players. As far as the French striker is concerned, he was extremely explosive in Frankfurt last season.

Ekitic averaged 3.74 shot attempts, 3.50 shot creation actions and 1.90 successful passes in the Bundesliga last season. This shows that he can bring great vitality to the forward and test the goalkeeper.

In contrast, Nunez averaged 2.76 shot attempts, 2.36 shot creation actions and 0.68 successful passes last season. Louis Diaz averaged 2.52 shot attempts and 2.17 successful passes per game.

Wilz is more like an all-round player, standing out from Liverpool's midfield options. Not only did Wilz far surpass other Liverpool midfielders in his goal contribution, his overall influence was also impressive.

The 22-year-old averaged 6.63 forward push passes, 2.89 successful passes and 4.60 forward push dribbling in the 2024/25 Bundesliga season, proving his ability to create opportunities and send the ball into dangerous areas.

Sobosloy averaged 4.87 forward passes and 0.81 successful passes, while McAllister averaged 6.08 forward passes and 0.55 successful passes, both far below the dynamic Wilz.

Salah's role in improving the finishing ability of Werz and Ekitic

Salah won a lot of praise for his key goal ability last season, but his creativity is also revealed in Slot's tactical style. Salah created 88 chances last season, ranking second among all players. He created 27 excellent goalscoring opportunities, gave teammates major scoring opportunities, and led the league in this data.

Salah received 18 assists, but he should have received more. The addition of new players may help him maximize his creativity output. At least, he will now play alongside Wilz and Ekitic, two deadly finishers who barely waste major scoring opportunities last season.

The Egyptian star connected with Wilz in the recent preseason friendly match where Liverpool beat Stoke City 5-0. They may not have scored goals directly, but their cooperation and ingenious interactions suggest that the two are forming a good chemistry in terms of moving forward quickly.

In addition, Wilz's ability to break through the opponent's high-pressure press and quickly transition the ball to the forward will help Salah to step forward with confidence in the offense and defense conversion without worrying that no one in the critical area will send him shells..

The German midfielder had an expected goal value (xG) of 9.4, while he actually scored 10 goals, exceeding expectations. On the other hand, Ekitic had an expected goal value of 21.6, while he actually scored 15 goals, slightly lower than expected. But being able to create such a high xG value itself shows how active the French striker is in the penalty area, and he will be eager to grab the landing point of Salah's cross to complete the end.

The two new decisive players, fighting side by side with him, will also reduce the burden on Salah's shoulders and allow him to play more freely. Slott will be very happy that his team no longer relies on the heroic performance of one player in the offensive third zone, but instead becomes a more powerful attack group with more firepower points and a richer source of goals.