Liverpool and Real Madrid primed for bidding war over £52m sensation who has ‘charmed’ Arne Slot
Liverpool could reportedly be set to do battle with Real Madrid in the race to sign a prodigious Dutch starlet.
In November, Soccernews claimed that the Reds had been ‘seriously considering’ an approach to AZ Alkmaar for Kees Smit, with the midfielder understood to have ‘charmed’ Arne Slot as far back as 10 years ago.
It was written that the youngster – who turns 20 next week – would be ‘interested in a transfer’ as he seeks to compete ‘at the highest level’, and two of Europe’s most successful clubs are understood to be strongly interested in him.
Liverpool and Real Madrid could enter Kees Smit bidding war
According to the Daily Star, Liverpool are ‘set to engage in a bidding war’ for the teenager, who also has interest from Real Madrid.
AZ Alkmaar value Smit at £52m, but should a bidding war ensue, it’s viable that the successful club could end up paying even more than that in order to outbid the competition, with Newcastle also being linked with the young midfielder.
Are Liverpool likely to spend £50m+ on Smit this year?
Netherlands head coach Ronald Koeman has compared the 19-year-old’s skill set to that of Barcelona star Pedri (Soccernews), and as seen in the table below (citing figures from FBref), the Dutch starlet ranks highly among positional peers in Europe for a wide range of qualities.
| Per 90 minutes | Percentile among positional peers | |
| Shot-creating actions | 4.33 | 95th (top 5%) |
| Progressive carries | 2.43 | 94th |
| Successful take-ons | 1.15 | 90th |
| Shots | 1.61 | 86th |
| Progressive passes | 6.37 | 82nd |
However, one aspect of Smit’s game which has plenty of room for improvement is his scoring output, with the central midfielder netting just four times in 59 senior appearances for AZ, along with producing only seven assists (Transfermarkt).
Also, if the youngster were to join Liverpool this year, he’d have intense competition for a starting berth against the likes of Ryan Gravenberch, Alexis Mac Allister, Curtis Jones and Dominik Szoboszlai, all of whom are in that 23-27 age bracket and have plenty of high-level experience whilst being in (or are coming towards) their prime.
Paying in excess of £50m for a prospect who’s untested above Eredivise and Europa League level would appear to be an enormous gamble, especially when he wouldn’t be a guaranteeed starter at Anfield.
FSG surely wouldn’t want to roll over and hand Real Madrid a free run at Smit, but we imagine that other parts of the squad will take greater priority among the LFC hierarchy in January and the summer.
You can watch Slot’s full post-Barnsley press conference below, via Empire of the Kop on YouTube:
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