Liverpool are struggling to replicate their former success under Jurgen Klopp's tutelage this season, with the prestigious Premier League outfit languishing in sixth place in the table and out of every cup competition rather prematurely.
It is a far cry from the outfit that gleaned the FA Cup and Carabao Cup last season, falling in the final of the Champions League against Real Madrid and finishing second in the English top-flight with 92 points, one agonising point behind Manchester City.
Unequivocally, Klopp has cultivated an incredible squad with an imperious winning mentality, but it has indeed crumbled this term and the forthcoming summer transfer window will be paramount to returning to former glory.
With the centre of the park one of the key areas of concern, speculation has been rife regarding the bolstering of the formerly excellent system consisting of Fabinho, Jordan Henderson and Gini Wijnaldum.
Fabinho and Henderson both remain on the Reds' books but have been shadows of their former selves, but the latter, Wijnaldum, left the club in 2021 after signing for £25m from Newcastle United in 2016, and the absence of his all-encompassing drive has been poignantly felt this term.
Would Wijnaldum transform Liverpool?
When Wijnaldum completed his transfer to Klopp's Liverpool in 2016 after the Magpies plummeted into the second tier, he has primarily been utilised as a dynamic offensive force, plying his trade out on the offensive left flank or in a more central, but still forward-thinking role.
He had, after all, proved his worth as a formidable striking force, scoring 11 goals and serving five assists in his solitary Premier League season at St. James's Park despite the club's fruitless exploits, relegated from the top-flight after finishing with 37 points, bitterly two points adrift of acrimonious rivals Sunderland.
However, Klopp recognised his worth as an assiduous and controlled force at the heart of the Reds field, where he was crafted into an industrious, composed and unrelenting workhorse to ensure Liverpool were charged with high-octane batteries.
He would forge 237 appearances for the Merseyside outfit, scoring only 22 goals and supplying just 16 assists, but his brilliance did not lie in his potency in front of goal, rather his orchestrating approach to run in tandem with the diligence and discipline that allowed the likes of Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah to wreak havoc on opposing defences.
The 87-cap Dutchman would go on to win the Premier League and Champions League under Klopp's wing, and when he eventually departed on a free transfer to Paris Saint-Germain, his absence was certainly felt, the 32-year-old even hailed as "irreplaceable" by Richard Jolly.
For a Liverpool midfield that is discernibly lacking in potency and vigour, Wijnaldum, in his prime, would be a catalyst for success once again, and it is hard to imagine that the woes of the campaign would be quite so profound with his robust presence pulling the strings.
The Athletic are just one of many to illustrate the issues that have left the Reds chasing top-four instead of challenging for the league title, with the phenom never dropping below an 87% pass success rate in the Premier League for Liverpool and indeed working tirelessly, like an unabating storm.
Stefan Bajcetic, Liverpool's 18-year-old prodigy, bears a semblance to his senior positional peer and has indeed thrived among the dirt this season, praised for "looking right at home" in the midfield by Statman Dave.
But the precocious Spaniard cannot alone bring his outfit from the ashes, and with Wijnaldum partnering him in the centre, Klopp could've indeed constructed a winning formula this term.
Wijnaldum's time at Anfield has come and passed, but his excellence at the beating heart of Klopp's dynasty is a reminder of exactly what the club are missing right now, and if the sagely German manager can get his hands on another ace to emulate the former feats, a course to success could be set once again.