West Bromwich Albion are reportedly interested in signing Liverpool youngster Leighton Clarkson on loan this month, and the midfielder could form a superb partnership with Okay Yokuslu in Carlos Corberan’s side.
According to Football Insider, a number of Championship clubs including the Baggies, Reading and QPR are keen on signing the 21-year-old on loan this month after his impressive displays in Scotland with Aberdeen.
While Jim Goodwin’s side are understandably keen to keep him at Pittodrie for the remainder of the season, it is suggested that Liverpool could terminate his loan with the Dons in order to give him more experience in England.
Last season saw Clarkson join Blackburn Rovers on loan but he was limited to just seven appearances in the second tier before returning to Anfield in January, featuring in Premier League 2 fixtures for the remainder of the campaign.
However, his spell with Aberdeen has been far more fruitful, as he boasts five goals and two assists in 21 appearances, so it is easy to see why he is attracting Championship interest this month.
Klopp has certainly tipped the youngster for big things at Liverpool, likening him to Bayern Munich and Germany icon Phillip Lahm for his style of play.
The Reds manager said: “Leighton is one of the biggest talents in our club, he’s been there for ages. He’s a midfielder, a number six type, can play eight as well.
“He’s a very talented, good football-playing boy. In Germany there’s a famous player who played similar to him, you might have to go back a little bit longer, I don’t want to put pressure on the boy. But he reminds me a lot of him.”
A ball-playing midfielder such as Clarkson could work superbly alongside a physical ball-winner like Yokuslu as Corberan looks to continue the Baggies’ surge up the Championship table in the second half of the campaign.
The Turkish midfielder is ranked as West Brom’s joint-top performer in the Championship campaign according to WhoScored and has the best tackling average at Albion with 1.9 per game. However, his regular midfield partner Jayson Molumby scores far less impressively, ranking a lowly 17th in Corberan’s squad.
Clarkson not only averages more key passes (1.1 vs 0.4) and shots (one vs 0.8) per game than Molumby, but also more tackles (1.6 vs 1.2) and interceptions (0.6 vs 0.5) in 2022/23, which suggests that he could be a better partner for Yokuslu in the middle of the park than the Irishman.
Their contrasting playing styles and physiques could work wonders for Corberan for the remainder of the season, so the West Brom manager should definitely look at bringing the Liverpool youngster to The Hawthorns this month.
