Jurgen Klopp has played down the possibility of Liverpool signing a replacement for the injured Joel Matip in the January transfer window.
The 32-year-old’s season is understood to be over after he sustained a ruptured ACL in last weekend’s thrilling 4-3 victory over Fulham.
That leaves Virgil van Dijk, the injury-prone duo of Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez, and the largely untested Jarell Quansah as Klopp’s options at centre-half for the remainder of the campaign.
However, the German believes that will be enough to get Liverpool through barring further fitness setbacks, and poured scorn on suggestions that he must enter the mid-season market.
“After eight years, I still just never understand this. You always talk about transfers like it would be the easiest thing in the world,” he began.
“Just bringing in a player, finding the money for it – as if we have endless money – we always talk about it. I really don’t understand it.
“Everybody, you, the fans, everybody talks about it, ‘we need another player’.
“They all cost money, it must be the right player. Tell me a club which wants to sell a top, top, top centre-half.
“If you would tell me one, not a centre-half, a top centre-half, because he will have to play for Liverpool.
• READ: Jurgen Klopp hints at new Joel Matip contract – “The club will show their class”
“So why should we start that process with that?
“Four or five days we’ve known that Joel will be out for a long, long time, which is really bad for us, but we still have four centre-halves. Which is absolutely alright.
“If we would have had a fifth centre-half in already beforehand, it’s a completely different team dynamic – one is not involved, we don’t see steps with him or with [another] and stuff like this.
“So like it was, it was perfect.
“Is it perfect now? I would say as long as we can go with those four, yes. If not, then it will be a bit more tricky with the amount of games coming up.
“But it was never wonderland, where you would bring in a world-class centre-half until the other one is fit again or whatever.
“As long as other clubs don’t put under the Christmas tree for us and say ‘take it and use it as long as you need it’…
“I didn’t really think about it yet, because it’s only five days since we had that problem. But I don’t know, I don’t think so, to be honest.”
Fan Comments