Liverpool legend Steve Nicol would rather see RB Leipzig youngster Dayot Upamecano arrive at Anfield than Sergio Ramos, telling ESPN FC that the Real Madrid captain is a man ‘on the wane’.
It is not just the Premier League champions who are cursing their luck at present.
While the Reds have lost Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez to long-term injuries, Zinedine Zidane would have had his head in his hands as captain fantastic Ramos limped off during Spain’s 6-0 shellacking of Germany in Tuesday’s Nations League decider.
He may be 34 but the four-time Champions League winner remains the first name on Real Madrid’s star-studded team-sheet.
Ramos is not just a fine defender and natural-born leader – those fearsome bouts of passion made all the more fearsome by a beard sculpted by Thor himself – the long-serving veteran is also one of Real’s most prolific goal-scorers.
He has found the net 27 times from centre-back since the start of 2018/19 and recently hit 100 in Real colours.
But, with Liverpool potentially in the market for defensive reinforcements in January, Nicol would rather see Jurgen Klopp sign a man 13 years Ramos’s junior instead.
“I don’t wish to make this sound bad but it depends how desperate they are! If Virgil van Dijk has a setback, if Joe Gomez is struggling, then you’d rather go for someone like Upamecano, at 21, who you’re going to have for a decade,” Nicol explained.
“It’s kind of a no-brainer. And if you can’t get him, then you start going down the list.
“Clearly, you want a younger player who’s going to be there for some time. You really want to avoid stop-gaps, unless you’re in a real hole.
“If they got Ramos, it would only be for a couple of seasons. He’s on the wane a little but it wouldn’t be the worst signing ever. He would do a job.”
Considering that Liverpool tend to go for exuberance over experience in the transfer market, it would be a major surprise if Ramos emerged as their number one target – ahead of the classy, commanding and ever-improving Upamecano.
Then again, with Ramos’s contract expiring next summer, and talks over an extension stalling, opportunities like this don’t come around too often.
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