Jurgen Klopp is already reportedly looking for January additions…
When looking at Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool squad over the summer, the main focus was rightly placed on welcoming midfield reinforcements, especially after the departures of Jordan Henderson and Fabinho.
The Reds, in the end, managed to solve their midfield crisis with the addition of Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo, and Ryan Gravenberch. But, in solving that problem, they placed another issue to one side – one that they could revisit come the January transfer window.
That problem, of course, is their defensive depth, with the likes of Joe Gomez and Joel Matip suffering regularly from injury problems without other options to step up in their place. With that said, according to transfer insider Dean Jones, Liverpool could join the race and beat Tottenham Hotspur to their own January target.
What has Dean Jones said?
Even after getting off to a solid start to the Premier League season, remaining unbeaten in four games with three wins to their name, Liverpool still reportedly have their eyes on January reinforcements.
Turning their attention to their defensive options, according to Jones, the Reds could battle it out with Spurs to sign Bournemouth defender Lloyd Kelly when the winter transfer window arrives.
The transfer insider told GiveMeSport, when asked about Liverpool’s interest in Kelly: “Yeah, I mean, there’s a possibility that Liverpool could join the race on that one.
“It’s a bit of a strange situation in the way that it kind of fizzled out at the end of the transfer window, and Tottenham were obviously the hottest link to him at that point. But when you consider what Liverpool might be needing in the January transfer window as they start to tweak the squad, it wouldn’t be a complete surprise at all if they were mentioned again in the Lloyd Kelly conversation.”
As already mentioned, Liverpool left their defensive issues to one side in the summer due to their midfield concerns. The fact is, however, they do not have enough depth within their backline.
As things stand, if Klopp has just four central defenders to choose from, and three of those have had injury issues during their Liverpool careers, as shown by how many games they missed last season, as per Transfermarkt.
So, welcoming another defensive option could prove to be crucial when it comes to whether Liverpool can return to the Premier League’s top four at the first time of asking. The fact that Kelly can play both as a left-back and centre-back, too, means that he could be an ideal choice.
At his best, the Bournemouth man has earned plenty of praise, including from former manager Gary O’Neil, who said, via the Bournemouth Echo, after the Cherries defeated Liverpool last season: “I thought Lloyd was incredible. I think he had a 12-week ankle injury followed by a six-week calf injury.
“Didn’t have much time in between, and then came back today having not trained much, to play left back against one of the best wingers in the world. I thought he showed everything, the potential he has to be a top defender. I thought it was a very, very impressive performance against a top attacker.”
