Marcos the Senesible Signing
Liverpool are said to be interested in acquiring Bournemouth centre-back Marcos Senesi. Whether they truly are or not, he should be on their shortlist.
The BBC transfer gossip page led with a tidbit concerning the Reds on Thursday morning.
“Liverpool are leading the race for 28-year-old Bournemouth and Argentina defender Marcos Senesi, who is out of contract this summer” (i paper)
This feels plausible (although The Athletic reported on Friday that the player is in talks with Tottenham, subject to them staying up). Senesi is battle-hardened to English football with over 100 Premier League appearances, not that the Argentinian equivalent in which he cut his teeth will have been a cake walk. He is well-known to sporting director Richard Hughes, who signed him for Bournemouth, and best of all, he won’t carry a transfer fee.
The idea of a move to Liverpool passes the eye test by these benchmarks. Does Senesi?
His availability record is decent. The four months missed with a hamstring injury last season represent the only reported absence that has cost him more than six matches (per Transfermarkt).
From the perspective of picturing him at Liverpool, it’s a pity the Argentine international missed a chunk of 2024/25. Bournemouth’s win rate was 54 per cent in the 13 matches in which both Milos Kerkez and Senesi started last season, compared with 33 per cent when either or both were not in the XI.
More importantly, the Cherries saw the xG they allowed drop by 0.32 per game in the Premier League when the duo comprised the left half of Andoni Iraola’s starting back four. They appear to work well together.
He also knows Alexis Mac Allister, alongside whom all three of Senesi’s international caps have been earned. The matches were won too; take that, Estonia, Mauritania and Venezuela, the trio swept aside.
Most significantly in terms of relationships, Senesi made 49 appearances for Arne Slot at Feyenoord. If the news that the club continues to back the under-fire Dutchman is accurate, the pair could be reunited in 2026/27.
Despite rarely spending time in the treatment room, the potential Liverpool target hasn’t played too much football. It’s something that would possibly be a concern when picking up a player who will have just turned 29.
However, Senesi has logged 260 per 90s in the FBRef database, 286.4 with Transfermarkt (as they have more data for South American football). Even the higher number is over 9,000 club minutes fewer than Jamie Carragher had played at the end of his age 28 season, before we get to the likes of Rio Ferdinand (418.4 per 90s), Sergio Ramos (425.8) or Harry Maguire (427.4).
Senesi has roughly 1,750 minutes of experience in European competition; Willian Pacho may get within about 200 of that this season alone. The Bournemouth man is not old in football for his age.
The Transfer Flow recently described Senesi as “the best passing center back in the Premier League this year,” also noting that: “Bournemouth’s attack starts with the line-breaking passes and long balls of Marcos Senesi, who’s also farming defensive action stats thanks to their style of play.”
The boy truly can pass. Senesi has played as many through-balls as Florian Wirtz in the league this season for gawd’s sake (10). He has four assists in the competition this season, half of which came in open play. Do you know the most league assists by any Liverpool player if we exclude set pieces?
Three.
The Argentine set up a winner at Tottenham as well as equalisers in the last 10 minutes (against West Ham) and stoppage time (Leeds). Oh, and another goal against Spurs because everybody else is doing it, so why can’t he? A couple of his assist passes have been utterly delightful, the kind of line-breaking defence-splitters that Liverpool have lacked all season.
Keep reading with a 7-day free trial
Subscribe to Andrew Beasley Football to keep reading this post and get 7 days of free access to the full post archives.