OPINION
Liverpool must act on their reported interest in Tottenham’s Victor Wanyama as his arrival would make them genuine title contenders next season.
The Daily Mail reported that the Reds were keeping tabs on the Spurs midfielder as Wanyama has yet to reestablish himself as a regular first-team player after returning from a knee injury.
The 26-year-old has only played 13 times for Tottenham since returning from injury at the start of the year, with most of his appearances being made from the bench.
It’s logical to believe that Mauricio Pochettino is simply easing the midfielder back into first-team action as he was on the sidelines for a while, but if there’s any chance Spurs will let him go, Liverpool need to ensure he comes to Anfield.
The Reds have shown their attacking power this season with Roberto Firmino, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah lighting up the Premier League to help Liverpool sit third in the table.
However the Reds would be much higher in the league if they were defensively solid, and this is shown by a worrying statistic.
According to the Liverpool Echo, Liverpool have dropped 12 points from winning positions in the Premier League this season.
With those added 12 points the Reds would sit in second and only be 10 points behind current league leaders Manchester City.
While 10 points is still a significant gap if the Reds were better at the back, they probably would have picked up more points in games they hadn’t taken the lead in as well.
Signing Wanyama would drastically improve Liverpool defensively and see them earn those extra points needed to be potential Premier League champions next season.
The 26-year-old midfielder is a powerhouse in the centre of midfield, who dominates the midfield battle for whoever he plays for.
Wanyama’s excellent tackling ability sees his defence given an extra layer of protection and based on the Reds conceding 31 goals in the league this season, more than anyone else in the top-four, Jurgen Klopp’s defence needs that protection.
Therefore if the Reds were able to sign Wanyama for next season then they would not only be genuine title contenders, but would win the league.