Who exactly is Brajan Gruda? This individual successfully outperform Vinicius Jr. and Luis Díaz in an important area, catching the attention of Liverpool…

Brajan Gruda: who is he? The Liverpool ‘target’ emerged victorious against Vinicius Jr. and Luis Díaz in a pivotal zone.

Liverpool is said to be eyeing Brajan Gruda, a winger from Mainz, as a potential signing.

The club is reportedly willing to pay around $22 million for the 19-year-old German under-21 international, who is contracted until 2026.

Other teams are also interested in acquiring his services. With his impressive performance in his first full senior season, where he scored goals and provided assists, Gruda has proven to be a valuable player for Mainz.

It remains to be seen if he would fulfill Liverpool’s needs in the upcoming transfer window.

According to Sport Bild, other clubs are also showing interest in the 19-year-old player. With his recent impressive performance in the Bundesliga, where he not only scored goals but also provided assists, Gruda seems to be a promising prospect.

The question remains, would he be a good fit for Arne Slot’s team and fulfill Liverpool’s needs in the upcoming season?

His dribbling skills are truly exceptional. Gruda ranked among the top nine players in the Bundesliga for successful take-ons, advanced carries, and carries into the penalty area, as reported by FBRef.

In terms of minutes per 90, only Jamal Musiala and Leroy Sané surpassed him in the former measure out of the 170 players who played as many minutes as him in Germany in 2023–2024; Jeremie Frimpong was the sole player to outperform him in the other two categories.

Gruda has drawn comparisons to Vinicius Junior and Luis Díaz, yet he completes more dribbles per ninety than the latter two.

He has been likened to Takefusa Kubo and Nico Williams in La Liga, as well as Kingsley Coman, Karim Adeyemi, and Jadon Sancho in Germany, according to the FBRef scouting report. The list of big names just goes on.

Gruda possesses remarkable statistics that would undoubtedly catch the attention of Arne Slot, the newly appointed manager of Liverpool.

The offensive strategy employed by his Feyenoord team heavily relied on dribbling, making them one of the top-performing teams in the big five European leagues, with only Manchester City surpassing them in terms of carries into the box per 90, averaging 10.9 compared to Slot’s team’s impressive average of 9.4.

It is worth noting that Mainz had an average possession rate of only 46.1% this season. Considering Gruda’s exceptional ball-carrying abilities, one can only wonder what he could have achieved with Liverpool (207) or Feyenoord (217), both teams that averaged 133 touches per 90 in the final third.

However, if Liverpool is genuinely interested in acquiring Gruda, there arises a dilemma regarding his position within the team.

Gruda currently occupies the right wing spot, which is undeniably Mohamed Salah’s domain. Moreover, his presence could potentially hinder the progress of Ben Doak once the young Scottish player recovers from his injury.

Gruda could potentially be the perfect winger for the next Liverpool manager, especially considering Mainz’s utilization of both a front three and a 4-2-3-1 formation this season, mirroring Slot’s tactics at Feyenoord.

Liverpool.com highlights Gruda’s impressive dribbling abilities, which would undoubtedly catch Slot’s attention. However, it remains uncertain how much say he has in Liverpool’s transfer decisions.

Gruda seems like a player worth monitoring closely, as someone of his caliber is likely to attract major interest in the near future.