For all the talk of Liverpool signing Thiago Alcantara, there hasn’t been a lot of speculation about a centre-back coming in.
Thiago to Anfield is arguably the transfer saga of the summer and as of now, the Reds, who are reportedly refusing to pay Bayern Munich’s £27 million valuation, are no closer to getting him.
Liverpool have lost one senior defender this summer in the form of Dejan Lovren, sold to Zenit St Petersburg in an £11 million deal.
And Jamie Redknapp has intimated that this is also a department where Director of Football Michael Edwards and Jurgen Klopp definitely need to strengthen.
Since Lovren left, Klopp only has Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez by way of experienced centre-back options.
Matip missed 20 games for Liverpool last season through injury, whereas Gomez has a worrying history of long-term ankle and knee issues.
In theory, Klopp is one injury to one of them away from having to rely on a youngster like Sepp van den Berg, and Redknapp has told Sky Sports that they could do with signing another body for that position.
He said: “History suggests you have to go out and sign one or two players to strengthen the squad, and I think people have said that in the last few weeks. ‘Why haven’t Liverpool maybe tried to get Thiago or get one or two players in to strengthen the centre-back area?’
“You’ve lost Dejan Lovren and that leaves you quite short with only Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk. From their point of view, you just hope you don’t get any injuries because if they were to get any injuries in that area they would be short. Especially when Gomez has had injuries and Matip can’t always play the full season, you might think that might be an area where they could struggle.”
Liverpool begin the defence of their Premier League title with a visit of Leeds United on Saturday.
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