Jurgen Klopp has insisted that any new signing Liverpool make in January ‘must be the right player’ for his squad.
It was put to him in Friday’s press conference ahead of the Crystal Palace match tomorrow whether the Reds would seek to bring in a centre-back in next month’s transfer window following the loss of Joel Matip to an anterior cruciate ligament injury.
The 56-year-old insisted that signing players isn’t as simple a process as cherry-picking them from other clubs at will, adding that he’s content with his depth in central defence so long as there are no further casualties.
Klopp stated (via Liverpool Echo): “You always talk about transfers like it is the easiest thing in the world. They all cost money. It must be the right player. We still have four centre-backs. Tell me a club which wants to sell a top, top centre-half. Tell me one.
“Is it now perfect? As long as we can go with those four [centre-backs], yes. If not, then it will be a bit more tricky with the amount of games coming up. It was never wonderland when you bring a world-class centre-back until the other one is fit again.
“As long as other clubs don’t put them under the Christmas tree for us and say ‘Take it and use it for as long as you need it’, I didn’t really think about it yet because it was only five days since we had that problem. I don’t think so, to be honest.”
On one level, it’s understandable that Klopp might want to be non-committal on the topic of January signings for specific positions – in public, at least – so as not to undermine the relevant players in his current Liverpool squad.
On another, Reds fans can justifiably feel that a new centre-back may be needed next month, particularly if we were to be shorn of any further options in that area of the pitch. Considering the injury records of Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez, it’s far from implausible that either or both could join Matip in the treatment room.
It was only on Wednesday night that news of the Cameroonian’s ACL agony was revealed, but LFC have already been linked with a couple of central defenders since then, with The Mirror indicating that Maxence Lacroix and Marc Guehi are both on the radar at Anfield.
Klopp is right in highlighting that completing transfers in real life is nowhere near as straightforward as simply picking one and saying ‘let’s do it’, as one might do in a computer game.
However, privately he may be in Jorg Schmadtke’s ear to prioritise the search for centre-backs recruits when the opportunity presents itself in January. Liverpool can’t afford to be blasé when it comes to squad depth this season, especially considering how many players are already sidelined.