With the January switch window approaching, Liverpool’s clear precedence within the mid-season market has been hammered residence by one other harm to versatile defender Joe Gomez.
Gomez signalled to the bench simply over 20 minutes into the 2-0 victory over Brighton at Anfield and was compelled off with a hamstring harm.
The 28-year-old will endure a scan to find out the severity of the difficulty, and whereas as but unknown it’s clearly not constructive information for Arne Slot.
This ends Gomez’s longest run within the aspect – 4 begins, one substitute look – since December 2024 and comes with a mounting record of absentees for Liverpool.
And becoming a member of teen Giovanni Leoni on the sidelines, any prolonged spell out for Gomez ought to spotlight the necessity to signal a centre-back in January.
Liverpool’s centre-back choices – and who Slot trusts
Slot has, in spite of everything, already accepted that his solely remaining centre-backs have performed an excessive amount of soccer for this stage in a season.
“Generally gamers want relaxation as effectively, so take a look at Dominik, Virgil, Ibou, Ryan. They’ve performed so many minutes as a result of different ones weren’t obtainable,” he informed reporters earlier than the go to of Brighton.
“So it’s good for them we go now to a run of video games the place there’s one week relaxation in between.”
Virgil van Dijk has performed each minute of each sport up to now within the Premier League and Champions League, with Ibrahima Konate clocking the third-highest whole of minutes all through the squad (1,942).
Slot considers Ryan Gravenberch amongst his emergency choices within the place, however not solely is the Dutchman already first-choice No. 6 however he too has clocked 1,654 minutes up to now – the fourth-most for Liverpool.
Wataru Endo is one other of these seen as a makeshift backup however is himself sidelined for quite a few weeks with an ankle harm, whereas Andy Robertson continues to be rotated with Milos Kerkez at left-back.
Then take into account the top coach’s admission that he’s “nearly joyful that we’re out of the League Cup.”
It’s clear that neither Amara Nallo or Wellity Fortunate (pictured above), 19-year-olds who got here off the bench in that 3-0 loss to Crystal Palace within the fourth spherical, are seen as viable deputies but.
Is it actually outrageous to counsel that Liverpool may very well be a Konate setback away from seeing Dominik Szoboszlai fill in alongside Van Dijk?
Who Liverpool might signal at centre-back: Guehi & 6 extra
Due to this fact with simply over a fortnight till the switch window reopens it is smart for Richard Hughes and his recruitment workforce to be weighing up the chances available in the market.
An apparent resolution could be to revisit the deal for Marc Guehi, who was a medical away from securing a £35 million transfer to Anfield on deadline day in September just for Crystal Palace to dramatically pull out on the final hour.
Guehi has restored his focus admirably, captaining Palace throughout a formidable first half of the season, however has already made clear his intention to go away when his contract expires.
Realizing that they may lose Guehi on the finish of the season presents a conundrum for these at Selhurst Park: settle for an inexpensive payment mid-season or enable the 25-year-old to go away on a free in the summertime.
A lot would rely on their capacity to supply a alternative and clearly there isn’t a assure.
Liverpool have been credited with an curiosity in quite a few others, together with Sporting CP’s Ousmane Diomande and Zeno Debast, Membership Brugge’s Joel Ordonez and Wolfsburg’s Konstantinos Koulierakis.
All match the fundamental profile: aged 22, 22, 21 and 22 respectively, with huge expertise already at a excessive stage together with, for Diomande, Debast and Ordonez, within the Champions League and all common starters for his or her nations.
One other to be closely linked with a transfer to the Premier League champions is Dortmund’s Nico Schlotterbeck, whereas Inter Milan’s Alessandro Bastoni is of confirmed curiosity.
It’s nevertheless unlikely both would fall into the ‘market alternative’ bracket with regards to a January switch, with mid-season strikes usually difficult.
Liverpool’s stance on January signings
Liverpool will keep away from any snap choices with regards to signings, significantly because the circumstances aren’t as dire as people who prompted the arrivals of Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak in 2021.
But when the appropriate deal presents itself, they will hardly afford to disregard it, as even with Slot’s first-choice partnership at the moment match it’s a scenario which is precariously balanced.
With Konate but to decide to an extension to a deal which expires on July 1 and Gomez becoming a member of Leoni and Endo on the harm record, a centre-back signing have to be a precedence for January.
