The clamour for Liverpool to strengthen in the January window continues to grow.
Defensive injuries have left them without a recognised senior centre-back at a time when their
Premier League title hopes have been hit by a concerning dip in form. Midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson are being utilised as makeshift defenders.
However, there’s no sign of incoming reinforcements, with senior Anfield sources adamant that there are unlikely to be any new additions to Jurgen Klopp’s squad this month.
With Premier League and Champions League glory on the line over the coming months, it would be a gamble for Liverpool not to bolster their back line given the season-wrecking knee injuries suffered by Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez. Joel Matip, who is currently sidelined by a groin problem, has also had a succession of fitness issues. Rookies Nathaniel Phillips and Rhys Williams have
performed admirably when called upon but the step-up in class is considerable.
Why haven’t Liverpool dipped into the market and what’s going on behind the scenes?
Fenway Sports Group president Mike Gordon, sporting director Michael Edwards and Klopp, the three key figures when it comes to transfer dealings, have proved adept at blocking out the noise from outside the club in recent years.
They pride themselves on sticking to a clear strategy and long-term planning. They don’t entertain quick fixes. If they can’t get what they want, they sit tight until they can.
When Liverpool’s initial move for Van Dijk collapsed in the summer of 2017 after they were accused by Southampton of making an illegal approach, Klopp ignored the deafening calls to pursue a Plan B. He stuck to his guns and got his man six months later.
Similarly, when Philippe Coutinho was sold to Barcelona, Liverpool decided not to replace him mid-season. In his absence, they exceeded expectations in reaching the Champions League final and then reinvested £65 million of that fee in signing Alisson from Roma the following summer. Both calls were proved to be overwhelmingly correct.
Klopp says the prospect of pursuing a stop-gap defensive signing in January to get Liverpool through until the end of the season “makes no sense”.
The Premier League champions have come a long way since the January window five years ago when they brought in Steven Caulker on loan from Queen’s Park Rangers to ease an injury crisis. The bar has been raised considerably and Klopp would rather hand opportunities to a teenager with rich potential like Williams than bring in an experienced but limited defender who doesn’t fit Liverpool’s style.
Liverpool’s current inactivity in the market doesn’t mean that Gordon, Edwards and Klopp are blind to the area of weakness in the squad.
It was a calculated risk not to replace Dejan Lovren last summer when he was sold to Zenit Saint Petersburg. With money tight, they opted to prioritise the signings of Kostas Tsimikas, Thiago Alcantara and Diogo Jota in the knowledge that
Fabinho could fill in if required at centre-back.
No-one could have predicted the devastating loss of both Van Dijk and Gomez but this wasn’t a situation suddenly thrust upon Liverpool. Van Dijk’s ACL was damaged by Jordan Pickford’s reckless challenge at Goodison on October 17. Gomez was hurt while training with England on November 11. They have had time to formulate a plan and discuss possible solutions.
In recent months, senior recruitment staff Barry Hunter and Dave Fallows, armed with the array of data and analytics provided by the club’s director of research Ian Graham and his team, have been assessing the merits of dozens of centre-backs from across Europe.
The list initially drawn up has been gradually whittled down based on three key factors — ability, availability and affordability. Inside the AXA Training Centre, they talk about “non-negotiables” in terms of what a Liverpool player must look like physically, technically and in terms of character and personality.
The Athletic understands that contact was made in November with intermediaries representing Schalke’s Ozan Kabak. However, after those initial discussions, it went no further. Liverpool opted not to pursue a deal for the Turkish defender, who is valued by Schalke at around €25 million. Sources close to Kabak now expect him to go elsewhere. AC Milan were also interested but deemed the price tag to be excessive.
Availability in January is certainly an issue. RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano is widely admired but with the clubs set to meet in the last 16 of the Champions League next month, there is little prospect of the Bundesliga outfit agreeing to sell one of their prized assets in the winter window.
Similarly, with Brighton locked in a relegation battle, they are determined to keep hold of Ben White, who impressed Liverpool during his season-long loan at Leeds United.
Anfield officials were baffled by reports suggesting they were in talks with Lille to sign defender Sven Botman. The suspicion was that Liverpool’s name was being used to drive up the price for the young Dutchman.
It was a similar story with Nicolas Pepe in 2019 when Liverpool were so annoyed by persistent speculation claiming they were on the brink of signing him that Edwards personally contacted Lille to make it clear they had no interest in buying him. Pepe subsequently joined Arsenal for £72 million.
“There’s zero interest in Botman. He’s not even under consideration for the summer window,” one senior club source tells
The Athletic.
Finding someone of the required calibre who is available at a reasonable price in January to enhance Liverpool’s challenge for silverware has proved problematic. There would be a premium to be paid and finance is another important factor.
The impact of the global pandemic continues to cut deep. The cost to Liverpool in terms of the dip in revenues is understood to be in excess of £100 million and still rising in the absence of match-day income.
When they bought Thiago and Jota in mid-September, the key to getting both deals done was the selling clubs’ willingness to accept only a small chunk of the fee up front.
“This is a very difficult transfer window, as you can imagine. Not a lot of the clubs have real money,” Klopp recently admitted.
Of course, there’s an argument that rather than asking “can they afford to do something?”, the more pertinent question is “can they afford not to?”.
Getting past Leipzig in the last 16 of the Champions League is worth €10.5 million alone. Winning a quarter-final tie would bank another €12 million. Every Premier League place is worth £2 million. That’s before you factor in the obvious commercial benefits of lifting more silverware.
Liverpool hope to have Matip back fit for the crunch clash with Manchester United at Anfield on January 17 but for how long? He has missed four of the club’s nine league games since Gomez has been out. Matip has only completed 90 minutes six times in all competitions this season.
On the face of it, the absence of Van Dijk and Gomez hasn’t made Liverpool more vulnerable defensively. They have only conceded eight goals in a dozen league matches without Van Dijk. The issues with dropped points have been further forward, with Liverpool lacking creativity and a clinical edge in the final third.
Fabinho and Henderson have proved they can perform admirably at centre-back but the knock-on effect of playing them there is that Liverpool miss their presence in midfield
During Klopp’s early days at Anfield, he declared that he “preferred training to transfers” and it appears increasingly likely that he will have to come up with answers to Liverpool’s problems internally rather than through an injection of new talent.
Unless an opportunity suddenly presents itself over the coming weeks, Liverpool won’t be buying another centre-back until the summer. By then, availability will be better and there will be more clarity on finances and the expected return of matchday income.
“Short-term fixes aren’t what this club is about anymore,” the source adds.
“It’s not how we arrived where we are. It makes sense to sign a centre-back we want for three to four years, not four or five months. And they are not available without being financially irresponsible in this window.”
