David Lynch has said that Liverpool are unlikely to bring in any defensive reinforcements during the January transfer window to avoid ‘locking’ themselves into long-term commitments with players whom the club is not confident will work out in the long run.
The journalist has admitted that this is something of a ‘gamble’ for the Reds as they face the second-half of the season without Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez.
“Of course, Liverpool would argue that signing the wrong centre-back would not only harm this year’s chances of glory but plenty of others down the line,” Lynch wrote for This Is Anfield. “This is an ownership group that still bears the scars of locking itself into disastrous contracts with the likes of Lazar Markovic and Mario Balotelli and so simply signing any defender is not considered a viable option.”
Alternatively, there have been some remarkable success stories in the window – not least of all in the form of Virgil van Dijk, who signed for the club in 2018.
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Long-gone are the days, however, of Liverpool bringing in a stop-gap defender to fill the void, particularly when the squad holds a promising (though inexperienced) defender in the ranks like Rhys Williams.
As Pep Lijnders has previously pointed out, the club is more than happy to rely on the options available if necessary, and it would appear to be the avenue we’ll take going forward if the right man doesn’t pop up in the winter window.
It’s a massive gamble – as Lynch has pointed out – if this is the approach we’ll be settling with, and we can only hope that it’ll pay off in the long-term.