The areas Liverpool must address in the January transfer window
By Euan Burns
It has not been a good season for Liverpool so far with the Reds finding themselves trying to stay in the top-four fight rather than battling Arsenal and Manchester City for the Premier League title.
Jurgen Klopp's side have had to deal with some important injuries such as the long-term absences of Diogo Jota and Luis Diaz, something that has certainly hindered their attack. With Virgil van Dijk now also facing a lengthy spell on the sidelines, Liverpool may feel that the season is something of a write-off already.
They sit in sixth place right now, seven points behind the in-form Manchester United who are in fourth place. There is a lot of football still to be played and Liverpool are still in the Champions League and the FA Cup.
The January transfer window is the last chance to make any meaningful changes to the squad though, so here are the areas Klopp may want the board to address.
- Liverpool's centre back options - ranked
- Jurgen Klopp confirms his plan after leaving Liverpool
- Wolves' stance on Liverpool's interest in Matheus Nunes
Central defence
This is an obvious one considering the hamstring injury that Van Dijk suffered in the 3-1 defeat against Brentford on Monday. Generally, Liverpool have good defensive options with Van Dijk being the leader and Ibrahima Konate often favoured alongside him. Joel Matip and Joe Gomez are also very capable, but now they look light on numbers.
Liverpool found themselves in a similar position in January 2021 and they went down the route of simply getting bodies through the door, signing Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies. Neither player is at the club anymore, so this time they may look for better quality even if it is more of a financial risk.
The more ambitious names being linked are Napoli's Kim Min-jae and Fiorentina's Nikola Milenkovic. There is also Benfica's Antonio Silva but he has a €100m release clause. A more plausible option is David Carmo from Braga who may only cost around €20m.
Central midfield
In all likelihood, Liverpool will not be adding a central midfielder in the January transfer window but if they decided to get ahead of the game, it is an area where they really need some improvement. The overarching target is of course Jude Bellingham from Borussia Dortmund. Liverpool could badly do with his energy and composure in the midfield.
A more plausible January target could be Matheus Nunes from Wolves, who has not been in the Premier League very long. The Portuguese star has been impressive though and while it wouldn't be cheap, it is not implausible for that to be done in January.
World Cup star Sofyan Amrabat was also linked heavily during the tournament, although it appears to have gone cold for the time being.
Full-backs
Liverpool have long been the most dangerous team in Europe when it comes to full-backs. Both Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold have been imperious but there is a lack of quality cover for them.
Calvin Ramsey was signed in the summer to be the backup to Alexander-Arnold so they may not choose to look at the right, but Kostas Tsimikas has not managed to make much of an impact when Robertson is not available.
Robertson has also been out of form lately and being able to bring in someone different to Tsimikas could add another dimension to Klopp's side. Not too many names are being linked right now but Villarreal's Alfonso Pedraza always seems to be named when a team wants a rotational left back.