A player can get injured any time, but it just rubs salt into the wound that Gomez gets injured on England duty. Still, at least it was for a very important World Cup game… oh no, wait, er I mean training for a pointless friendly.
Williams and Phillips to the rescue!
I’m now at the point where I would go big in January on whoever is the top long term choice for the position, and if VVD comes back better than ever, and Gomez isn’t too bad, then great, we will have three top players, plus an assortment of understudies.
They might, hopefully, go big in January and get a new CB, if not two, if we decide we still want to compete. Prices will go even higher now though, so they could even decide it’s not worth it and sack the season off. We will see.
Until then most of our season relies upon Matip’s fitness, and that says it all.
I guess it depends on the length Gomez is out. If it is going to be a long one, then I think in January we are going to splash on the high level CB we might have been tracking for next summer. If it is not as bad as feared, then I guess Klopp, knowing him, will go with the current options.
And for Garay, he might be a good call but he was out with an ACL early this year and even if he recovered well, without playing any football competitively, getting him match fit and up to speed to the PL pace, might take more than weeks…which is counter productive to what we need, someone who can come in fast and up to speed.
Buy Dayot Upamecano in January… And a lot of hope and prayer in the meantime.
Hope a youngster steps up till Fabinho comes back.
Hope fragile Matip remains fit.
And hope a quartet of Upamecano, Matip, Fabinho and the stair climbing youngster can finish another trophy bearing season for us… Assuming Gomez is out a very long time too.
If Gomez is out for the rest of the season, can really see us stepping up for a first choice CB itself, who can lead the line and as early as first week of Jan to get it done. There’ll be a incredible premium with clubs knowing where we stand and our position. This would need another Edwards masterclass. Navigating through November and December is the key now.
Yeah. What I presume is just the timelines of who we were planning to buy would have changed, not the targets. Whoever we were targeting maybe in summer or a year later might be considered now.
I posted an interesting article about Fofana a few weeks before he moved to Leicester. About how transfers affect the players families and why he wanted to come to England now. He’s a very candid and heady sort and didn’t want to wait an entire year for a move to England, for multiple reasons. And with his talent, and his own belief in his talent, I applaud his decision. He’s a very likable lad.
EDIT: if it’s true LFC did ask him to wait a year, we have other young talents in that target list.
Nat and Rhys showed they can cope against most of our opponents in the last few weeks but just a matter of time before some strikers give them nightmare games.
Playing Gini or Hendo as CB might work for one or two games but especially in the PL some strikers will be physically too much for them.
No way Matip and Fabinho will be injury free until the end of the season but in terms of quality I trust them to pocket the best strikers in the world.
I believe the idea will be to bring in someone to give them a rest from time to time - even in big games.
I think it’s going to be Kabak because it seems he was on our shortlist anyway. Price will be relatively ok.
When I think think about Kabak I try not to judge him on his Schalke time because that club is in a total mess.
At Stuttgart he played like 26 year old with huge potential.
Looking at the “top” CBs in the world, for the idea of “going big” on one it’s clear in my opinion that what goes into assessing CBs isn’t compatible with what Klopp needs.
I mean don’t get me wrong CBs who are fancy with their feet, great at reading the game, intelligent at knowing when and when not to tackle and being good at it when they do are all great traits that are right to be respected and valued.
But Virgil is one of the only top CBs who is actually good in the air too. It’s like it’s not even a consideration when the consensus of who are good CBs is being formed.
I’m starting to think whatever CB we pick up may not be quite so obvious/expensive. Maybe not quite at a level of say David Carmo or Sven Botman out of nowhere. But maybe little middle of the road types that still make people think “why him…” such as Kristoffer Ajer, Duja Caleta-Car or (whispers so as not to draw attention) Johnathan Tah.
Think there may end up being a signing that seems a bit left field and people might peg it as a Klavan style cover brought in because of our emergency situation. But I think it’ll be a player who has the highly specific blue print a CB for us needs. They’ll then end up being fantastic for us. Think Neven Subotic during Klopps time at Dortmund.
So we cannot sign another homegrown player due to be at our limit. Looking through our options I’m not seeing a great deal of ‘acceptable’ talent out their under a decent price and that is homegrown.
But we can sell a foreign lad to make room for another. If this occurs most likely out would be Origi? Have enough cover (famous last words) and he isn’t playing enough to be proper considered by Jürgen, especially with the emergence of Jota.
Here our my ‘solutions’ our gaping hole at centre half now.
David Alaba - David Alaba’s contract situation is well-known, with Bayern Munich not intending to extend the 29-year-old’s deal beyond the end of the current season.
Recent reports suggest they won’t allow him to leave in January, but if Bayern are running away with the title and Liverpool make a solid enough offer, they might have a change of heart by the time new year comes around.
And there’s no question Alaba would be a phenomenal addition to what Liverpool already have. This is a player who has operated as a winger, a central midfielder, a full-back and a central defender throughout his career and excelled in practically every capacity. Only issue is a wage of around 200k, and an injury prone player at times. But a talented , versatile option.
Ozan Kabak - The Turkey international is just 20 but has plenty of first-team experience under him and has already been on Liverpool’s radar.
He’s a good size, commanding in the air but has plenty of room for improvement. He will be cheap, not much wage. But largely inexperienced and spat on a lad last month which does show him in a great light personality wise
