Don Hutchison has backed Liverpool’s reported pursuit of Kalidou Koulibaly, telling ESPN FC on YouTube that the Napoli powerhouse would stroll into Jurgen Klopp’s starting XI without breaking sweat.
In one of those so-called ‘famous European nights at Anfield’ back in November, the greatest centre-half in world football was usurped by the pretender to his throne.
Koulibaly outshone the much-admired Virgil van Dijk on his own turf, displaying the peerless positional sense, brilliant reading of the game and fearsome physical gifts that have some claiming that he, rather than a giant Dutchman, is the best on planet earth.
So the prospect of Van Dijk and Koulibaly linking up together on Merseyside should have strikers all over the Premier League quaking in their boots.
Gazzetta dello Sport claim that Liverpool are leading the race to sign Sadio Mane’s Senegal team-mate, despite a prohibitive £90 million price-tag. And Hutchison feels that Koulibaly is one of the few players around capable of gatecrashing Klopp’s XI.
“I think if Koulibaly comes through the door and he plays alongside Van Dijk, I think you wrap the title up right there. I don’t think there’s anyone better, there won’t be another partnership like it,” said the former Liverpool and Scotland midfielder.
“I think at 28, he’s a great age, he’s got good pace, he’s strong, he’s a leader. I think he walks straight into Liverpool’s line-up and he makes them harder to beat, he makes them a physical presence.
“I think if you’re going to win titles and you want to try and adapt, Liverpool have to be harder to beat. You have to go into Europe and you have to have people like Koulibaly who can lead you in Europe.”
While Van Dijk is undoubtedly Klopp’s first-choice centre-half, the prospective arrival of Koulibaly may have Joe Gomez and Joel Matip wondering what sort of a role they will have at Anfield in the years to come.
Dejan Lovren, the long-serving Croatian, already appears to have one foot out of the door.
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