Manager Jamie Carragher urged Liverpool to strengthen their defense with a new centre-back in January, despite spending £450m to revamp their squad last summer and bringing in eight new senior players. The Reds twice broke British transfer records, signing Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, as well as Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkes, Jeremy Frimpong, Giorgi Mamadashvili and Giovanni Leoni.
Liverpool also had their sights set on Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi, but their £35m move for the England international was blocked at the last minute by the Eagles on transfer deadline day. The Reds remain interested in the defender, whose contract expires at the end of this season, but it is unclear whether they will seek to sign him again in January. With Leoni suffering a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury on his debut, Liverpool currently only have three senior centre-backs in Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez.
However, Konate and Gomez both face uncertain futures at Anfield, with the Frenchman’s contract due to expire at the end of the season, and the Englishman being linked with a move last summer, having caught the eye of AC Milan and Brighton & Hove Albion before a move for Gehi fell through.
With Van Dijk turning 35 next summer and entering the final year of his contract with the Reds, Liverpool will also need to plan for life after captaincy.
The Reds have endured a tough spell at the bottom this season, scoring 17 goals in 11 Premier League games while keeping just four clean sheets all season.
They have lost in seven of their last 10 meetings and currently find themselves eighth in the table, eight points behind leaders Arsenal.
Carragher also admitted in Overlap that his former side could miss out on Champions League qualification if they don’t sign a centre-half in January, and has implored Liverpool to strengthen their squad once the transfer window reopens, or risk the season spiraling further out of control.
“Liverpool needed to spend money in January, they needed to buy a centre-back and they should have bought a centre-back in the summer,” he told Sky Sports Premier League’s one-off documentary Inside: Liverpool.
“They didn’t do that, but the only centre-back they got, a young Italian player, Leoni, looked great in the match he played, the Carabao Cup match. Unfortunately he injured his anterior cruciate ligament so we won’t see him until next season.”
“Liverpool will probably have to hit the market in January as one more injury to a centre-back could derail the season.”
Liverpool remain linked with a potential move for Gehi, but are also said to be keen on Antoine Semenyo, with the Bournemouth striker believed to have a £65m release clause that kicks in in January. If the Reds strengthen their squad in January, their season spending is likely to be pushed towards the £500m milestone.
But while Liverpool’s summer waste has drawn criticism from critics as their Premier League title defense falters, Carragher insists the Merseyside club had no choice but to act proactively given the exodus of players.
“I feel like we needed to bring in that number of players over the summer,” he said. “I can experience last season’s team. (Kostas) Tsimikas, the manager didn’t have much faith in him so we had to get a left-back.
“(Jarrell) Quansah was transferred. The manager didn’t have much faith in him. They brought in a young player, Leoni, but they still needed another body. They had to replace Trent (Alexander-Arnold). Harvey Elliott moved, but again the manager didn’t have much faith in him, so we went and bought another No. 10 in (Florian) Wirtz.”
“(Darwin) Nunez, the manager never trusted him, so we just went and brought in[Alexander]Isak, but obviously we are faced with a tragic situation with Diogo Jota.
“But it was a bit of a headache in that we spent a lot of money on Isaac and Ekitike, who were playing in the same position in the same summer.
“If you spend that much money and it goes one way or the other… that doesn’t seem very Liverpool-like to me and certainly doesn’t seem like the way transfer business has been done in recent years.”
