If it wasn’t obvious before, Liverpool definitely need centre-backs in January.
The Reds are already without Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez for the foreseeable future due to separate knee injuries.
But one other central defender yoyo-ing in and out of the treatment room at The Axa Training Centre is Joel Matip.
The Cameroon international seems to be picking up a short-term knock every other game for Liverpool and got injured again in Sunday’s 1-1 draw with West Brom.
Matip came off injured on the hour mark to be replaced by Rhys Williams and the German manager has revealed that he won’t know the full extent of the problem until today, but claimed it isn’t looking ‘too good’ right now.
Klopp told Liverpool’s official website: “Joel told me he felt something in his adductor and that’s obviously not too good. I am not sure how serious it is now, but it was serious enough that he had to leave the pitch. The rest of the information I will get tomorrow.”
The good news is that we’re on the brink of going into the January transfer window, meaning Liverpool can and probably will strengthen their centre-back options.
To be missing all three of your best central defenders is potentially devastating and Klopp – whose side face Newcastle United on Wednesday – is probably just one injury to Fabinho away from an all-out disaster.
One thing for sure now is that despite how good he is, the Premier League champions just can’t rely on Matip – who earns £100,000 per week on Merseyside – and failing to bolster that area could be a huge error.
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