Khéphren Thuram

The upgrade LFC needs in Midfield

(image: courtesy of www.foot01.com)

The Who

• Khéphren Thuram-Ulien

• Age: 22

• Nationality: French, (born in Italy) his family is of Guadeloupean descent

• Preferred foot: Right

• Height: 6’3

• Position: has played defensive midfield, central midfield, left midfield, right midfield & as a no.10. This past season he has played mostly in left midfield for Coach Digard

• Academy: AS Monaco Academy

• Club: OGC Nice

The What

• Khéphren joined the fame Clairefontaine french national academy at 13 and finished his development via AS Monaco academy

• Thierry Henry gave Khéphren his professional debut in 2018 in a UCL match vs Atletico Madrid

• He is very versatile having played every midfield position in his career with OGC Nice so far.

The Why

• he is a player who typically breaks up opposition attack before distributing, or dribbling his way out of trouble, would be a big upgrade on what LFC presently has in midfield

• Strengths: very technically gifted, incredible agility and dribbling skills for a player that is 6’3, a very good ball progressor, high rate of successful take-ons, ball recoveries, pace

• Weakness: For a player with his height his aerial abilities leave a lot to be desired. This can be worked on and improved of course (0.57 Aerials won per 90 mins)

The Data:

As per Fbref in last 365 days:

• Progressive carries: 94th percentile

• Successful take-ons: 92nd percentile

• xAG - 89th percentile

• Passing accuracy : 85%

• Interceptions: 74th percentile

The View:

• As the son of one of the greatest defenders in football (Lillian Thuram), he has big shoes to fill but his development has been steady and has been improving every season since his debut. His father is his guide in his career & any move for him involves getting his father’s buy in, work on which as understood has been successfully done

• expected 60M euro fee is not extreme, could be made more appealing with structured addons, his contract run out in just 2 years. I believe we can get him for much less. 30-40M€.

• A player who has incredible potential to be one of the best midfielders out there. At age 22 this is the perfect time for his next step and Klopp could just be the perfect manager to get him to the next level.