Euro 2020 ended in a bitterly disappointing fashion for England after their agonising penalty shootout loss to Italy in the final.
However, that aside, the tournament as a whole proved to be a highly enjoyable one, with lots of great teams and exciting players showcasing their abilities across the memorable month-long event.
Inevitably, some of the tournament's standout stars could have played themselves into the shop window, especially with many of Europe’s top clubs looking to strengthen their squads ahead of the return of the domestic football season next month.
Liverpool have already been busy planning ahead this summer, sealing a deal for defender Ibrahima Konate and also tying down returning Harvey Elliot on a new long-term contract. However, further first-team arrivals are likely.
With that in mind, below are some of the tournament's standout performers and analysis as to whether they’d represent a good move for Liverpool should the club's recruitment team have been impressed with their performances.
Joakim Maehle - Denmark - 24
Maehle came into the tournament in good form after an impressive first season in Serie A with Atalanta. The wing-back played every minute of Denmark’s six European matches and was hugely impressive in each, even finding the back of the net twice for the Danes.
He’s a right-wing back who possesses a sharp turn of pace when making either overlapping or underlapping runs and is an evasive and dangerous dribbler of the ball.
In fact, across the tournament, no player made more progressive runs with the ball than Maehle, whilst only England’s Raheem Sterling, France’s Kylian Mbappe and Denmark’s Martin Braithwaite - all of who are forwards - managed more successful dribbles.
In Trent Alexander-Arnold, Liverpool of course have one of the finest right-backs in Europe, however, Maehle represents a different kind of profile to that of the Academy graduate.
This means if Jurgen Klopp wanted to adjust his set up for a game from a tactical perspective, or play Alexander-Arnold in a different position, Maehle could prove to be a useful asset.
Not just that, but the Denmark star can also play left-back, as he did for Denmark on occasions in recent weeks, meaning that he could provide cover not just for Alexander-Arnold but also Andy Robertson on the opposite side.
Beyond these important points, it’s also worth noting that he’s a good age, has the potential to develop further and would probably not cost a substantial amount if the Reds made a move. That being said, he did only join Atalanta last year. Therefore they might need some persuading to sell him so soon.
Konrad Laimer - Austria - 24
A product of RB Salzburg’s brilliant academy, Laimer started his senior career with the club’s feeder side Liefering in 2014 before being fast-tracked to Salzburg to become the Austrian Bundesliga's second-youngest debutant, aged 17 years, four months and one day.
He had three successful years with Salzburg, finishing the 2016/17 campaign as the Bundesliga's Player of the Season before making the familiar switch to RB Leipzig that summer.
Since the move, the formidable midfielder has shone in Germany, thriving under Julian Nagelsmann’s high octane pressing tactics, however a knee injury sustained last August put paid to pretty much the entirety of his 2020/21 campaign, returning only for the final few matches in Leipzig’s season in May.
Despite a season on the sidelines, Laimer travelled to the Euro’s with Austria and performed like he’d never been away.
As a player, the 24-year-old is an energetic pressing machine who bombs around the middle of the pitch scooping up loose balls and coming out on top in key defensive duels.
Although his tournament was cut short at the last 16 stage after newly-crowned European champions Italy overcame Austria 2-1, he impressively averaged more defensive duels on a per 90 basis than any other player across the whole competition.
Whilst great without the ball, his game is about more than just defensive duties, and he finished the 2019/20 season with a decent seven goal contributions - five goals two assists.
Although it was only over a short sample of matches, Laimer’s form at Euro 2020 seems to suggest that he can pick up where he left off in terms of his performance levels being as strong as they were before his injury, making him an appealing option for Liverpool who should be keen to add at least one new midfielder to their ranks following the departure of Georginio Wijnaldum.
Patrick Schick - Czech Republic - 25
Schick will have felt a little hard done to at the end of the tournament after he scored the joint-highest number of goals alongside Cristiano Ronaldo - five - but lost out on the golden boot award due to the fact that the Portuguese star registered an assist.
Still though, what impressed most about Schick’s goal return, particularly in comparison to Ronaldo’s, was the variety of his efforts.
The Czech forward scored a goal with his left foot, right foot, a header and of course a beautiful goal from the halfway line against Scotland. Meanwhile, three of Ronaldo’s five efforts came from the penalty spot.
Whilst he doesn’t have an individual award to show for his efforts this summer, his accuracy in front of goal could have landed him on the radar of a number of big clubs.
Yet whilst he was on fire in this summer’s finite tournament, the Leverkusen man has rarely been as prolific on the domestic front in his career so far. He netted nine goals for Leverkusen last season in 29 appearances, and he scored just ten before that on loan at RB Leipzig from Roma, albeit in just 22 matches.
His game isn’t just all about goals though, and his 6ft2in frame means that he’s an ever-present aerial threat who is also good at linking play on the ground, despite his size. He also works extremely hard without the ball, and these aspects of his play will be just a few of the reasons why Leverkusen tied him down on a five-year deal when he signed last summer.
It’s widely accepted that Liverpool could do with at least one new centre forward ahead of the new season, which could lead to interest in Schick. However, there’s a lot of recency bias to his appeal and they could probably do much better by looking elsewhere.
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