Speaking recently on The Athletic’s Headline Podcast, Simon Hughes discussed whether or not he believes Liverpool will look to sign a defender in the current transfer window.
Following a remarkable 2019/20 Premier League campaign, in which the club won their first league title for 30 years, accumulating a massive 99 points – 18 clear of second-placed Manchester City – Liverpool have been relatively quiet in making additions to their squad over the summer transfer window.
So far, officially, the club have only purchased Olympiacos left-back Konstantinos Tsimikas, and while the arrival of Thiago Alcantara from Bayern Munich is seemingly imminent, Hughes recently discussed the areas of the Liverpool squad in which Jurgen Klopp could still look to strengthen over the remainder of the window alongside James Pearce and Luke Brown.
However, according to Hughes, one of the positions Liverpool will not be likely to sign a new player in is centre-back, despite not having any incomings in that area this summer. The journalist stated that Klopp believes he already has players in his squad who could play in the position if required.
Speaking on the Headline podcast, Hughes said: “Obviously, Liverpool have lost Dejan Lovren in that position, but Jurgen Klopp spoke quite openly last week [saying] that he feels that there are other players who’ve played centre-half at certain points in the season and done well – Fabinho [and] Jordan Henderson have been able to fill into those positions.
“So, if there is any movement [in the transfer market], I would suspect it’d be further up the pitch – the front three, to put a bit more pressure on them [provide] back up, but I think there’s some way to go before that happens.”
Do you think that Liverpool need to sign a new centre-back?
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TIF Thoughts…
From Hughes’ comments, it would seem as if the journalist is of the belief that Liverpool will not be signing a centre-back in the current window, and that if the club do make a move for a player in the before the deadline, then it will most likely be for someone who can operate in one of the front three positions, in order to provide Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino with competition.
So, for fans of Liverpool, this will certainly be something to keep an eye on over the coming weeks.