Liverpool are in the market for a new centre-back this summer as well as further midfield signings.
Liverpool had concluded all their incoming transfer business by June 19 last year.
When confirming the signing of Calvin Ramsay from Aberdeen for an initial £4m, the young Scot became the Reds’ third arrival of the summer after Darwin Nunez and Fabio Carvalho. And while injuries resulted in Arthur Melo being brought in on loan on transfer deadline day, Liverpool bosses were content with their initial stance despite the clamour for a new midfielder.
Club sources would say that the Reds had signed exactly what they felt they wanted and needed heading into the new season. In hindsight, that stance proved to be short-sighted.
Yet including Luis Diaz, who had previously been considered a summer target only for Tottenham Hotspur to force Liverpool hands into moving early in January 2022, the Reds had successfully revamped their attack. While Sadio Mane, Divock Origi, and Takumi Minamino would all move on, they had their three replacements while also tying down Mohamed Salah and Diogo Jota to new contracts, with a midfield overhaul on hold until 2023.
Of course, looking back, we can say that the Reds were wrong not to strengthen their engine-room last summer. At least, with midfield the priority this summer, it is seemingly not a mistake they will make again with a new left-sided centre-back also being targeted. After all, with Joel Matip out of contract next summer and Virgil van Dijk getting older, it’s clear that that position is the next one on the list for revitalisation.
While recent reports suggest all four of Liverpool’s senior options will stay put this summer, Jurgen Klopp had previously confirmed a new centre-back is on his radar too.
“We look in all departments apart from goalkeeper at the moment,” he told reporters last month. “Yes, if there is a good one (centre-back) out there, I would not deny it. That’s all. We look at all areas of the pitch, definitely.”
Admittedly, the Reds did look at midfielders last summer too, only to miss out on Aurelien Tchouameni to Real Madrid and Ryan Gravenberch to Bayern Munich, with Borussia Dortmund insisting long-standing target Jude Bellingham was not for sale.
Sky Sports would report that they also deemed Nicola Barella and Frenkie de Jong to not be financially viable, and had kept a ‘watching brief’ on Enzo Fernandez as he swapped River Plate for Benfica, only to make a £106.8m Premier League record switch to Chelsea six months later after winning the World Cup. Yet that shortlist only emerged in the public eye right at the end of the summer when the club were forced to move for Arthur.
Gravenberch is now back on Liverpool’s transfer shortlist of course as they plot their second midfield move, having already signed Alexis Mac Allister, with Khephren Thuram, Manu Kone, and Gabri Veiga also all of interest. And while it is inconceivable that the Reds won’t add to the arrival of the Argentina international in the engine-room this summer, it remains to be seen what they do defensively.