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Today marks the opening of the January transfer window and with it the cries for Liverpool to sign a new center-back will be even louder.
Jurgen Klopp has seen Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez ruled out for most of the season for long-term knee injuries, while Joel Matip is once again offside with his latest firing due to a kidnapper injury. expect me to discard it for three weeks. .
That leaves Fabinho to continue as the only option for the Reds, the senior center-back in his absence, as he was forced to move away from his favorite midfield role much further than anyone would have imagined when his coach chose the Brazilian as his room. choice after selling Dejan Lovren to Zenit St. Petersburg this summer.
As a result of their lack of options, captain Jordan Henderson was called upon for the second half in Liverpool’s draw with Fulham, while youngsters Rhy Williams and Nat Phillips have excelled admirably when called upon.
Teenager Billy Koumetio is seen as an alternative, having debuted for the club in the Champions League against FC Midtjylland last month, while Gini Wijnaldum has been used as part of the Reds’ three defenders in the past and Klopp has quoted Andy Robertson. as another possible solution.
But with Liverpool currently holding a narrow lead at the top of the Premier League table, and already down to the bone, it’s easy to understand why both fans and pundits have urged Klopp to turn to the transfer window to solve this, far from ideal. predicament as his team seeks to defend their title.
However, word seems to have spread from Anfield that the Reds do not intend to make any senior transfers this month, leaving such calls for a new center-back unanswered.
While Matip’s frailty has been a common obstacle to his availability during his time in Merseyside, the Cameroonian’s current firing is not catastrophic as Liverpool are set to manage his playing time for the remainder of the season and Klopp will bet by him to avoid future injury. .
Add in the fact that Van Dijk and Gomez could return before the end of the season, and would have to be enrolled in the Reds’ 25-man squad to be eligible to participate, it is understandable why Klopp and Michael Edwards are currently showing no desire to contract a short-term solution.
After all, it’s a position the German has been in before at Anfield and one he would have handled differently in hindsight.
In January 2016, just months after taking over as Liverpool manager, Klopp signed Steven Caulker on loan from Queens Park Rangers to respond to his defensive crisis at the time.
The Reds had been stuck with veteran Kolo Touré as the only senior center-back option available with Lovren, Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho offside.
Lucas Leiva was the Brazilian midfielder at the time tasked with filling an unknown role, while Tiago Ilori and unwanted left-back José Enrique had been the center-back pair days before Caulker’s arrival at Exeter City in the FA Cup.
However, despite hiring the former England international, Klopp later admitted that Liverpool were quick to sign the defender.
“Now we have too many centers,” the Reds coach admitted before his team’s Europa League clash with Manchester United in March. “The day before we put up the team list, we didn’t have any.
“Now we have too many and you think, ‘My God, what have we done?’
“That was what we had to do at the time. Now we have to go to the next round with the players we have available ”.
Caulker made just four appearances during his time in Liverpool, totaling just four minutes in the Premier League with the defender infamously used as a makeshift forward each time.
His only start, and only appearance as a central defender, was in an FA Cup draw with West Ham United in late January, while two unused backup appearances in February were the closest he came to featuring for the remainder of his career. temporary race with the Reds. .
While Klopp has had to reposition players out of position and turn to youngsters in response to a defensive crisis, Caulker’s experience at Anfield offers the perfect example of why Liverpool will not sign a center-back as a short-term solution. just for her sake to make up for the numbers in January.
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Not getting stronger could prove a bigger gamble with the firings of Van Dijk and Gomez more severe than those faced by the Reds’ defensive options in 2016.
But whether you agree with their decision or not, Klopp and Edwards know that Liverpool have nothing to gain from hiring a player who does not consider himself part of the Reds’ furniture in the long run.
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