Liverpool plotting summer move for Torino defender Gleison Bremer

Wait, did you think the capitulation of Liverpool's title challenge would save you from the centre-back transfer rumours? Oh, mate.

Jurgen Klopp's defensive options have been famously decimated this season, with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip all out for the remainder of the campaign, while Fabinho's fitness comes and goes as it pleases.

This meant that new signing Ozan Kabak was thrown in at the deep end in the defeat to Leicester on Saturday, but neither the Schalke loanee or fellow new arrival Ben Davies (who is injured!!!) are written in stone as long-term solutions at Anfield.

While each could play their way into Klopp's plans in the long run, the reality is that both were brought in because they were cost-effective - Kabak on a six-month loan and Davies on a permanent deal that costed buttons.

That was how Liverpool had to operate in January due to their financial situation, but they are expected to loosen the purse strings a little when the summer window opens, and according to The Mirror, that will lead them back to Torino defender Gleison Bremer.

Bremer was of course on that gigantic shortlist of targets that emerged on deadline day as Liverpool, who had just found out Matip joined Van Dijk and Gomez in the treatment room for the foreseeable, scrambled to reinforce at the back. He is understood to have caught the eye of Anfield scouts since arriving in Turin from Atletico Mineiro in 2018, and is viewed as a major step up on both of Liverpool's January recruits.

Though more expensive than the winter deals pursued for Kabak and Davies, he is still likely to be available for a cut-price fee, even moreso should relegation-threatened Torino fail to stave off the drop.

It's said they would listen to offers in the region of £10m - so the Reds could sign him for far less than the £18m it will cost them to land Kabak on a permanent basis.

Bremer's dip in value comes as a result of Torino's poor form over the past six months or so, but he is viewed through the same scope as Georginio Wijnaldum, Andy Robertson and Xherdan Shaqiri - all players who were plucked from underperfoming sides to make the grade at Anfield.

Whether Liverpool will actually move for him remains to be seen, though - they have a rapidly collapsing season to ride out first. The Reds are currently 13 points behind Manchester City, with Klopp having already admitted their title defence is over.

It is only February. Fun times!