Jurgen Klopp has installed little confidence that Liverpool will add a centre-back to their ranks before the transfer deadline, instead saying “we need to be lucky with injuries.”
If there’s any club that knows the importance of depth at centre-back, it’s Klopp’s Liverpool. One only needs to turn back the clock a couple of seasons for evidence of that.
But as it stands, the manager has Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Nat Phillips and Ibrahima Konate as his senior options.
The latter has now picked up a muscle injury and he is in doubt to feature at Newcastle.
It prompted a question about the Reds’ depth in the position and if a new addition will be looked at before the end of the transfer window.
“In this room, it’s always like ‘we could do this, could do that’. Maybe one day you sit a day in my chair and you have to deal with all the other stuff as well,” Klopp bristly replied in his press conference.
“In an ideal world we have six, seven, eight centre halves. We need to be lucky with injuries.
“I have no doubt about the quality of the boys we have, we have Jarell Quansah, a super-talented player as well.
“In this moment, we are covered but it’s not dreamland where you can be prepared for absolutely each situation.
“We had to learn that in the past as well a couple of times.
“We will try to do our absolute best to have a squad next week for us where we can react on pretty much everything. Is that possible? We will see.”
The club have only seven days to act before the transfer window closes, and seeing it shut without adding another defender will be a significant oversight as Klopp currently only has five recognised centre-back options to cover three positions.
As we’re now seeing with Konate’s muscle injury, it takes only one absence to completely change the dynamic of the backline and a new addition could relieve such concerns.
The manager’s words, though, did not invite a lot of belief that a new centre-back will come to fruition – which would be neglectful from the club.
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