Jurgen Klopp hinted that he could delve into the transfer market before Monday’s deadline in a last-ditch search for defensive cover following the injury to Joel Matip on Thursday – yet Liverpool fans hoping for a big-money signing are likely to be disappointed.
Klopp has been questioned all winter about the likelihood of bringing in a new centre-half to solve the Liverpool injury crisis that has affected his back line.
With Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez out for considerable time with knee injuries, Klopp has been forced to rely on Joel Matip and midfielders Fabinho and Jordan Henderson to fill the gaps at the back.
But in a week where Fabinho missed Thursday’s 3-1 win over Tottenham with a muscle problem and Matip came off in north London having suffered ankle ligament damage, Klopp appeared to be finally warming to the idea of drafting in a new recruit.
“If you have a centre-half available at a reasonable price, and one with the quality we need, then send me a message,” he half-jokingly said on BT Sport after Roberto Firmino, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Sadio Mane had earned his side a comprehensive win over Spurs.
“We thought [about making signings] and we think the whole time but it’s about doing the right thing. We need to find the right player. It’s incredible what’s happening in the defensive line.”
His initial statement, while said with a wry smile, may have Reds fans dreaming of a new Van Dijk-style capture that will set things right once again. But Klopp’s insistence on a transfer policy that does “the right thing” means we cannot expect a spending spree over the weekend.
A day later he said ahead of the trip to West Ham: “We try but there is nothing to say until something happens. We will see. The situation yesterday didn’t make it easier but we still try to do the right things. If that’s possible, we will do it. If not, we won’t.”
Liverpool defensive injuries
- Virgil van Dijk – Knee injury – Expected return unknown
- Joe Gomez – Knee injury – Expected return unknown
- Joel Matip – Ankle ligament injury – Expected return unknown
- Fabinho – Minor muscle injury – Expected return imminent
Indeed, Liverpool’s transfer strategy under Klopp and owners Fenway Sports Group has always been a balancing act. The manager defends the right not to spend frivolous money by siding instead with the detail. Liverpool have one of the most expansive scouting and research networks in the world – and their recent big-money signings have not been knee-jerk.
Two years ago, during another defensive crisis, Klopp was asked if he would spend in January. His reply: “The only country that asks a question like this is England. Everything is sorted with buying players. We have four centre-halves. Three, maybe, two-and-a-half are injured so we’ll have to try and come through in the moment. We need them back but you cannot buy a fifth centre-half and say, ‘So you play two weeks and after that the others come in’.”
Now, it’s not as though Liverpool are frugal. But crucially they are not wasteful.
The likes of Alisson (£56m), Naby Keita (£54m), Fabinho (£40m), Mohamed Salah (£37.8m), Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain (£34m), Sadio Mane (£37m) and Gini Wijnaldum (£24m) have mostly proved to be astute purchases for Liverpool, whose reward for these big spends has been Champions League and Premier League success in the past two seasons.
And they don’t always need to spend big to get results. Matip and Andrew Robertson were picked up for a combined £8m.
No Van Dijk style signing expected
Even the arrival of Van Dijk for a world record £75m fee for a defender in January 2018 wasn’t much of a surprise. The deal for the Dutchman was announced just after Christmas 2017 when Liverpool came to an agreement with Southampton after a diligent tracking of the player. Van Dijk wasn’t an off-the-cuff transfer done over a weekend, it took months to arrange.
And the Merseyside club duly got the reward for their diligence, with Van Dijk transforming the team into title contenders.
The problem for Klopp now compared to three years ago is the Van Dijk transfer required cash that the club doesn’t currently have. In 2018 the Reds knew they were about to receive a windfall from Barcelona’s bank account. Everyone knew it. The Catalan club were desperate to spend some of the £200m earned through the forced sale of Neymar to PSG, and Liverpool hiked their fee for Philippe Coutinho to £142m. That gave Klopp to freedom to flex his muscles with Van Dijk’s capture while Keita, Fabinho, Alisson and Xherdan Shaqiri followed that summer for a combined £172.4m.
Who could Liverpool sign?
Back to the present and Liverpool have spent more money than raised on transfers over the past 12 moths and have suffered a £42million hit to operating profits due to the coronavirus. We must see Van Dijk’s January arrival as a one-off, fuelled by Coutinho’s mega sale, and not a precedent of things to come this month.
The boss hit back at transfer chatter, saying: “I am not sure there is an £80m centre-back available at the moment or that teams would sell. We need to find right player and it has to suit our financial situation.”
As he says, Klopp doesn’t need a revolutionary right now. Just as during the 2019 injury crisis, he requires a stand-in and nothing more. Paying a big transfer fee for a player results in a contract of at least three years and the inevitable selection headache down the line when everyone is fit. And so names of supposed targets like RB Leipzig’s Dayot Upamecano, David Alaba of Bayern Munich, Brighton’s Ben White and Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly will have to wait until the summer at least.
We’re more likely to see a six-month loan deal being agreed for a player who can perform his duties without upsetting the team structure, or Klopp promoting a player from the reserves.
Klopp has 23-year-old Nathaniel Phillips available and Rhys Williams, who at 19 has already played 12 times for the Reds this season.
“They are both really talented and will have proper careers,” Klopp said of the two youngsters on Friday. “We have a lot of faith and trust in the boys. It’s not that every day we give them a book about how to play centre-back.”
Klopp may be in a desperate situation but spending money on a snap transfer has never been his solution – and for a club where strong diligence has resulted in success, it doesn’t need to be.
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from Football – inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/36lwjSU
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