Creating a Liverpool squad from the Euro 2024 nations

 I was set an interesting challenge to compose a squad of Liverpool players (past and present), using nations qualified for Euro 2024. 

There’s 24 teams at the tournament, and in a modern-day Premier League squad, only 20 players get used (nine subs and the eleven starters).

Having to discard four countries is quite serendipitous as there are exactly four Euro 2024 nations that Liverpool have no representatives from - Georgia, Slovenia, Albania and Romania.

So, that leaves me nicely with my twenty remaining countries. I can only use each of them once, and I’m trying to construct the best squad possible in the parameters, meaning that those nations which Liverpool have multiple representatives from could be particularly challenging to decide.

I need one Liverpool player from; Germany, Hungary, Scotland, Switzerland, Spain, Croatia, Italy, Denmark, Serbia, England, Poland, Netherlands, Austria, France, Belgium, Slovakia, Ukraine, Turkey, Portugal and Czech Republic.

Let’s start with the ones where I have no options. For Ukraine, it’s going to have to be Andriy Voronin, our back-up striker in 2007/08. And Austria’s representative in this squad can only be the third-choice goalkeeper of 2016/17; Alex Manninger.

Goodness me, it’s not a promising start.

Serbia isn’t at all attractive for this task, with my options limited to three signings who made 68 appearances between them, despite costing a combined £30m. Will I go with Marko Grujic, Lazar Markovic or Milan Jovanovic? Given that Grujic has had a reasonably good few years for FC Porto, it’s going to be him.

Dominik Szoboszlai is a shoo-in to be the Hungarian representative in this squad, with the only other options being second and third-choice goalkeepers from the mid-2010s, Adam Bogdan and Peter Gulacsi.

Speaking of the mid-2010s, defender Martin Skrtel, who made 320 appearances for Liverpool, is the club’s only ever player from Slovakia, so he makes the squad by default - though is someone I’m happy to have in my team.

And I’m picking another hot-and-cold centre-back for Croatia, with Dejan Lovren the obvious choice. The other option was Igor Biscan, who had a small part in the 2005 Champions League win, but Lovren was a pretty consistent performer in both the 2019 Champions League and 2019/20 Premier League wins.

I’m looking at the defending Euro champions next: Italy. Despite so many footballing greats coming from the country, Liverpool have historically struggled to have any success with Italian players. Mario Balotelli and Fabio Borini may have been good for other Premier League sides Man City and Sunderland, but I’ve already got one flop forward in Andriy Voronin. Alberto Aquilani is of zero interest to me, so I’m going to have to plump for Andrea Dossena as my back-up left-back.

Like Italy, Belgium is a country that have produced some great footballers in the last two decades, but Liverpool have always seemed to get the leftovers. I’ve not got a first-choice goalkeeper yet, so Simon Mignolet is an option, but I’m concerned about how little I’ve got in the way of attack so far - I have a straight choice between Christian Benteke and Divock Origi. Benteke was probably a more successful player across his career, but Origi’s collection of big moments for Liverpool, and his versatility of being able to play across the front line, give him the nod here.

By not picking Mignolet, I’m going to have to go with Poland’s Jerzy Dudek in goal. He and Mignolet were probably on a par in terms of general standard at Liverpool, but Dudek had a bit of the Origi-itis in finals - the 2005 League Cup and Champions League finals were his greatest showings.

I’m really not enjoying looking at my options for Turkey, to be truthful with you. The forgotten man of 2020/21, Ozan Kabak, or the forgotten man of 2012/13, Nuri Sahin? Based on the fact that I’ve already got Skrtel and Lovren for centre-back, and the fact that Sahin was successful in his career at Borussia Dortmund after leaving Liverpool, I’m going for the midfielder.

I’m happy with Skrtel and Lovren in the squad, but I want at least one better centre-back in my starting team. I’m going to bolster my back-line with the addition of Denmark’s Daniel Agger, one of the most cultured defenders I’ve seen at the club. Agger also offers me that rare and most sought-after commodity: a left-footed centre-back.

In the Premier League era at least, we’ve only really had Andy Robertson that has made an impact in terms of Scottish players. The best left-back in many, many years; Robertson also means that I don’t have to start Dossena, which is quite a relief. And I’m hardly going to choose Charlie Adam, am I? 

Things are looking brighter now. Thinking about Germany, the host nation, there’s two clear paths I can go down: right-back with Markus Babbel, or central midfield with Emre Can or Didi Hamann. I like both Can and Hamann but I’ve got other, better midfield options available in the countries still to come, and Babbel is a consistent, if not ostentatious, selection at right-back. He’s not Trent Alexander-Arnold or even Alvaro Arbeloa, but do I really want to use England or Spain at right-back? 

I’ll die on the hill that Stephane Henchoz is one of the most haphazard, ridiculously overhyped players I’ve ever seen at this club, and even with his 205 appearances, he ain’t getting anywhere near my defence. So, for Switzerland, I’m choosing Xherdan Shaqiri. He gives me so much versatility in the forward line or even in midfield, has tremendous technical skill and is a bit of a king of international tournaments.

A very similar player stylistically to Shaqiri is Patrik Berger, who played for the club between 1996 and 2003. I can’t easily discard Milan Baros or Vladimir Smicer, given their contributions to the Champions League in 2005, but Berger’s joyous overall quality makes him the choice for Czech Republic.

Moving onto the Euro 2016 winners now, Portugal. The youngsters of Joao Carlos Teixeira, Fabio Carvalho and Rafael Camacho all showed promise but never made it at the club, and that leaves me a straight choice between Diogo Jota and Raul Meireles. I really liked Meireles, and he pretty much single-handedly kept me away from suicide during the 2010/11 season, but Jota is such a marksman and his versatility in the attack is something which I value highly. He’s also the best finisher I’ve seen at Liverpool, so he’s going in.

France are the favourites for this tournament and Ibrahima Konate will be hoping to play a part for them this summer. The French options aren’t great from a Liverpool perspective: Djibril Cisse, Mamadou Sakho and David N’Gog… it’s a shame that Momo Sissoko played his international football for Mali, despite being born in France, as I’d have gladly put him in the base of my midfield. Alas, he never donned the French shirt, and so I’m going to have to go with Konate.

Konate and Agger starting, with Skrtel and Lovren on the bench means no space or need for Virgil Van Dijk, despite him being the best of the lot. The Netherlands throws up malleable forwards Dirk Kuyt, Cody Gakpo and Ryan Babel, as well as Bolo Zenden and Ryan Gravenberch. But, if I can’t have Van Dijk, I’ll use Het Oranje for Georginio Wijnaldum. The most press-resistant and efficient midfielder of the Jurgen Klopp era, Wijnaldum is a potential game-changer for this team.

That just leaves me with Spain and England. Spain won the Euros in 2008 and 2012 and used plenty of Liverpool players in doing so - goalkeeper Pepe Reina, right-back Alvaro Arbeloa and midfielder Xabi Alonso were all key to the high standards of both Liverpool and Spain back then. We’ve also had Luis Garcia and Fernando Morientes before that period, and Thiago Alcantara more recently. But, I’ve deliberately left a central striking berth in my squad available for Fernando Torres, the poster boy of his club and his country in the late 2000s. Quite simply, the most devastatingly quick and brilliant centre-forward you could wish to see.

Like Spain, there’s plenty of options for England. I’ve touched upon Alexander-Arnold, and not even mentioned the likes of Jamie Carragher, Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Jamie Redknapp and Steve McManaman. Of course though, there can only really be one. It’s Steven Gerrard, patrolling the middle of the park and doing things that only he can do.

Goalkeeper: 🇵🇱Jerzy Dudek

Right-Back: 🇩🇪Markus Babbel

Centre-Back: 🇫🇷Ibrahima Konate

Centre-Back: 🇩🇰Daniel Agger

Left-Back: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿Andrew Robertson

Midfielder: 🇳🇱Georginio Wijnaldum 

Midfielder: 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿Steven Gerrard

Midfielder: 🇭🇺Dominik Szoboszlai 

Right-Winger: 🇨🇿Patrik Berger 

Striker: 🇪🇸Fernando Torres

Left-Winger: 🇵🇹Diogo Jota

Sub: 🇦🇹Alex Manninger

Sub: 🇸🇰Martin Skrtel

Sub: 🇭🇷Dejan Lovren

Sub: 🇮🇹Andrea Dossena

Sub: 🇷🇸Marko Grujic

Sub: 🇹🇷Nuri Sahin

Sub: 🇨🇭Xherdan Shaqiri

Sub: 🇺🇦Andriy Voronin

Sub: 🇧🇪Divock Origi

What do you think of my team? Can anyone build a better one?

Daniel