The lowdown on Liverpool target Zakaria Bakkali

After news emerged last week that Liverpool joined the race for the signature of young star Zakaria Bakkali, Scott Taylor (@ScottTaylorUK) brings us the lowdown on this prodigy.

Zakaria Bakkali is a player that many Liverpool fans wouldn’t have even thought existed until many of the Dutch national newspapers and the Mirror recently ran a story declaring the Reds’ interest for the young winger.

Bakkali is just 18-years-old and joins a long list of youngsters with potential to be linked with Brendan Rodgers’ side.

Planning for the future is under Rodgers’ vision for the club, and that is why the PSV youngster has been linked with a move to Merseyside.

His predominant position is on the right wing but like many young players, his versatility allows him to play anywhere across the front three.

Bakkali has only made seven starts for PSV this season and that is another reason why he is linked with a move away. However, in those seven starts, some of which have been watched by Liverpool, he has impressed.

A memorable performance came when he broke Arjen Robben’s record of being the youngster player to score a hat-trick when he netted a treble in PSV’s win over NEC Nijmegen in the first home game of the 2013/14 season.

With that hat-trick, Bakkali picked up the man of the match performance and was rated a complete ten out of ten.

Interestingly, Robben was also at Bakkali’s current club PSV when he broke the record and look where he is now, so there are no doubts about his future but there are doubts as to where he will play.

This is because he is stalling over a new contract with PSV because the Belgian’s agents think he is wasted at PSV and will be better utilised elsewhere.

With both Manchester clubs, Arsenal and Real Madrid being linked with the winger, it shows Liverpool aren’t alone in their admiration of Bakkali’s talent, but I must stress that he is not the finished product and needs to work on his game.

Even though he is a proven goalscorer with his hat-trick he has not scored a goal since August and this inconsistency is what will worry Liverpool fans, especially after watching their team symbolise the definition of inconsistency in the past few years. But that is what is expected for a winger of just 18 years of age.

Do you want Liverpool to sign Bakkali? Will he be a good addition to Brendan Rodgers’ squad if he is to come to Melwood? If you have an opinion then be sure to leave your comments below.

Personally, I don’t want Liverpool to sign Zakaria Bakkali because although he has such talent, the Reds already have very talented and potential youngsters such as Jordon Ibe at their disposal, as well as first team youngster Raheem Sterling.

So if Bakkali was added to the squad it will just be more money spent on positions where we don’t need to strengthen and more money spend of wages of a player that won’t player week in week out.

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