I think Upamecano is definitely very good right now. I am of course very wary about buying flavour of the day, because it will just trigger a bidding war. I think in January to get him, you will not get him anything lesser than 55mil or even 60mil and above. That is my only worry about being sucked into a bidding war because of our desperation. I believe in Edwards to manage that if we are really interested in him.
As for the right CB, I think VVD is good in the air, not because he is so, but because he anticipates play and gets into the right position and makes the right decision most of the time. He never rushes and jumps into a challenge but uses his presence and intelligence to shepherd the opposition out of danger zones. That is precisely what is lacking in Gomez, because Gomez depends alot on his pace to recover and make challenges but VVD rarely allows himself to get into those situations by snuffing out dangers before it gets there. So in this sense, Upacameno seems to be more VVD than Gomez but lets not forget he is just 21, he has a long way to go before he is World Class like VVD. We can only look at De Ligt, who is supposedly World Class already but looking at how he struggled at Juve, expectations need to be tempered at times when a young player moves to a top top top club.
As such, if we are buying a CB and willing to spend big, I would rather we get someone a type like Milan Skrinic in the sense that a CB who is very good and very close to his peak and has been playing at a top league for a number of years.
I’d be tempted to look in Milan as well, but not for Skriniar. I’d go for Romagnoli (AC Milan) or Bastoni (Inter) as better options for the left sided centre back role. Romagnoli might be the better one right now given his greater experience and the fact he’ll have only 18 months left on his contract in January, and Milan need the money.
Ben white has been on our radar for a while, and going by way of analytics and all, he seems to be a fit for our team make up. Add that to the fact Biesla really wanted to sign him and he has league experience makes him someone who can seamlessly fit in and not disrupt team harmony as a young centre back, especially should VVD come back in the near future. We also still have Matip , Fabinho to come back and Rhys Williams so there would be a god chance to play plug and play and then have him learn at the same time.
Upamecano is looking like the complete package of a centre back , and he is the popular choice obviously. If we are talking about putting quality , we could do a lot worse than having a defender like Dayot in the squad. Also i feel he fits the physical mould to be a world class centre back if he hasn’t already proved this in RB Leipzig. Problem is this move is hard to do because of the suitors and the value RB Leipzig commands. Plus we haven’t seen any indication that Liverpool is interested in him, so that makes it even more unlikely to happen.
Kamara is the kind of defender that you know has talent and is fast and capable. I think also Marseille might be willing to do business if the price is right. He is really good at carrying the ball from the back and pretty much if your talking about potential , i think he could be the next big french centre back to rise through the ranks and could be someone who can come in straight and do a job but when need be sit behind Van Dijk or Fabinho or Matip and learn long term. I like also the fact that he can do multiple things.
Kabak is the one we have been linked to the most. I think physically he is talented, strong and fast , gets up in the air. But temperament and tactical nuance is a question mark. He has been a regular starter in teams since a young age, but can he handle the pressure of playing at Liverpool with teams coming at you with intent? Good defenders, heck national team level defenders have joined us and have found it tough. Kabak seems like a defender who has a mistake or two in him. Does he have the character and fortitude to pull through?
White is on an interesting path. Potter just removed him from that RCB in a back 3 position and shifted him to central midfield alongside Bissouma. We’ll see how he does at CB again when he goes back there. Maybe when Propper is back fit.
Given how we play i would say Ben White being able to command the CDM position would be a added bonus for us. I remember PSG for a huge chunk of their champions league final run they played Marquinhos at CDM as well. Maybe it would definitely be worth a look if he can play both positions. Obviously we want him for Centre back so jury is still out on him, but i remember a few people saying how much potential he has especially in a system like how we play.
Why would you even contemplate a central defender playing midfield when we have Fabinho, Thiago, Henderson, Gini? Do you even understand the role at all? It’s hardly a defensive minded one, it requires some pretty specific requirements.
Ben White was scouted in my opinion to bring competition to Gomez, he cannot replace Van Dijk.
We need someone who is aerially dominant, right sided or left (Gomez has looked good on the left actually).
This is what I keep getting frustrated by as people keep suggesting nice fancy CBs with skill and technique who would often cost a lot of money but very few are any good in the air. If they don’t win a high percentage of their aerial duels they’d be a disaster waiting to happen if they were partnered with Gomez which you have to consider the most likely short term plan and long long term plan for when VvD starts getting on.
Potentially entering a bit of a pickle with injuries. A problem in itself, but taking VVD long term layoff, another sticking point is if we go big this January on cover for him, whoever comes in becomes a squad player as soon as Virgil is fit again. There is a tricky little call to make as to what level we pitch the recruitment for a new CB, but I would be totally surprised if we went large on another LCB.
With few months left on his contract Alaba might be available in January but I don’t think he is the type of CB we need and he is asking for astronomical wages.
I would happily have him at the club. Can play left sided CB and LB, bags of experience.
Steve Nicol, as reported by the Echo, is suggesting that we should seek to loan Lovren or go and buy Sakho back from Palace. He’s fucking lost the plot here Nicol.
I loved Nicol as a player. Left back, right back, no problem. Weighed in with a few goals too.
Sometimes former players talk a load of rubbish, and it’s tough to take, so I gently put my fingers in my ears and remember their contribution on the pitch!
I suspect that we’ll go for someone a bit left field, and I don’t think @AnfieldRdDreamer’s Tah shout is that far off.
He isn’t starting and I think we could get him for a small loan fee. Comes in for a few months just to tide us over and then we can hopefully have a proper look in the summer.
Suggesting Ben White is great, but it will take fifty million quid to persuade Brighton to let him go mid season, and I suspect he might actually be not that good.
Think Tah could fit under the same category as Shaqiri. If Tahs development hadn’t stalled a couple of years ago and/or he was in form he’d be what? £35 million plus? As it is he could be bought for a bargain price or possibly even loaned like you say. He may not be everyone’s cup of tea but he successfully does many of the things we need whilst ticking a lot of boxes of what we need from a CB. He has really good success rates for ground duels and aerial duels last season in the league meaning if you get him to the right place he will do the job well. Klopp would need to work on his positioning and match reading (things I think Klopp can improve) whilst the fitness and conditioning team work on his mobility and agility (something that can be improved). Meanwhile he’s fast in a sprint, tall, physically solid specimen that’ll be hard to bully off the ball. He’s also got decent passing success rates for both short and long passing. He does many of the things we need from our CBs quite well if not quite perfectly and the points in his game that need improving could, in theory, be improved by our staff. If he doesn’t work out he’s a young international that is at rock bottom price and we probably wouldn’t lose money on him. If things go right the foundation is there for a top level CB in Klopps system and it could end up looking like a masterstroke. A lot of the more fancy “better” CBs people would prefer to see just aren’t good matches for what we actually need. So although they are “better” players they just won’t show that here. Gomez is amazing but consider how vulnerable a CB partnership of Gomez and Gomez would be. He’s ok in the air but our style of play makes us both vulnerable to crosses, balls over the top for runners and set pieces whilst also making those types of play some of the only types left open to opponents. It would be like a boxer with iffy vision in his left eye and a glass jaw leading on his left with his guard down. He may have a mean right hook ready to go but he might never get to use it.
It’s not just about height. Dan Burn is awful at passing accuracy and terrible at ground duels. Tah is also slightly better at aerial duels still anyway. I’ve got no problem with a shorter CB but they’ve got to be good at winning both types of duels and good on the ball with their passing accuracy at least acceptable both short and long.
If we spend big on a CB that has got lots of attention on them then I wouldn’t mind a look at Dan-Axel Zagadou if we run an extremely careful medical over him. He seems to have all the right attributes just seems to be having bad luck with injuries right now.
