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Liverpool beefed up Jürgen Klopp’s central defensive options on the deadline with the signings of Ozan Kabak from Schalke and Ben Davies from Preston only to lose Joël Matip for the remainder of the season to an ankle ligament injury.
The Premier League champions completed a loan move for Kabak, with the option to buy the 20-year-old Turkish international for an initial £ 18 million in the summer, after fooling Celtic into a £ 1.6 million deal for Davies. . The 25-year-old would have been without a contract at Preston at the end of the season and was stationed in Glasgow until Liverpool moved in with an upfront payment of £ 500,000 plus £ 1.1 million in bonuses. The championship club will also receive 20% of a future sales fee for the left-side center back, who was on loan at York, Tranmere, Southport, Newport and Fleetwood before settling into Preston’s first team.
As part of the deal, Liverpool’s 19-year-old Dutch defender Sepp van den Berg was loaned out to Deepdale. Late on Monday, Takumi Minamino, the Japanese forward, joined Southampton on loan until the end of the season, while Shane Long of the Saints headed along the south coast towards Bournemouth, on loan until the end of the season. season.
It is understood that Davies signed a five-year deal and Klopp admitted that the deal would not have come about had it not been for Liverpool’s limited options. “What I like about Ben is that he shows that every situation creates opportunity,” he said. “I think it’s probably clear that in a normal transfer window, no problem, we wouldn’t look at Preston if there is a player for us or something. Not very likely.
“But since we saw it and since our situation became more and more clear – the problems we had – when we saw it we got really excited and we thought: ‘Wow’. He’s a guy who played his whole life for Preston, he’s right around the corner. We really see the potential. I love your game very much. He’s a really good footballer, he seems like a suitable leader in this Preston team.
Liverpool stepped up their efforts to get a second center back after Matip suffered a recurrence of an ankle ligament injury against Tottenham on Thursday. Klopp confirmed on Monday that the unfortunate defender will not be available again until preseason.
Attempts to sign Croatian Marseille defender Duje Caleta-Car were thwarted by the French club, who were unable to secure a replacement, but Schalke were willing to let Kabak leave once they signed Shkodran Mustafi from Arsenal with a six month contract. Kabak was among several targets for Liverpool, although he had been under consideration at Anfield since last summer. He had been recommended to Klopp by former Schalke head coach David Wagner, a close friend of the Liverpool manager, and former Schalke sporting director Christian Heidel, who worked with Klopp in Mainz. A graduate of the Galatasaray academy, Kabak underwent a medical examination in Germany on Monday morning to complete the transfer before the deadline.
“Dave was already very, very positive about him,” Klopp said. “He came to Germany very young and it was clear to everyone that he was a huge talent. Now he is only 20 years old. Play for your second club [in Germany]; He is at Schalke and unfortunately they are in a bad position at the moment. For him, I think it is a good time to take the step because, like all players in the world, you need a stable team around you and that is what we can offer.
“We deliver a stable team and you can play in your position, you don’t have to be 20 years old with almost everything on the court and you can’t make mistakes anymore.
“He is really a great, great talent and we really want to work with him.”
Schalke, struggling at the bottom of the Bundesliga and threatened by the financial impact of the relegation, had proposed a loan deal with the obligation to buy. That was rejected by Liverpool sporting director Michael Edwards, and Kabak, who cites Virgil van Dijk as his idol, will be just an option for the summer as Klopp weighs his long-term plans.
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Liverpool have been reluctant to trade in the January market or offer short-term contracts with Klopp previously (Steven Caulker, his first signing, was a rare exception), but a concentration of injuries in central defense forced a late rethink in this window. Despite losing Van Dijk and Joe Gomez to severe knee injuries in October and November respectively, failing to replace Dejan Lovren last summer, and Matip’s poor injury history, Klopp had insisted that there would be unlikely to be a new one. central defense in January due to lack of availability, inflating sales prices. and the impact of the pandemic on Liverpool’s finances. However, Matip’s latest injury, combined with Fabinho’s recent absence with a muscle problem, left Klopp without an established central defender and increased the need to strengthen himself for the title defense. Nat Phillips and Jordan Henderson were Liverpool’s 12 different central defensive pair in the Premier League this season in Sunday’s win over West Ham.
With Davies signed for a reduced price sum due to his contractual status and Kabak due to a loan cost of £ 1 million, plus £ 500,000 according to appearances, Liverpool has finally addressed their defensive shortage with relatively minimal expense.
