Echo name 7 Van Dijk alternatives; only 2 in Virgil’s league…

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Our friends at the Echo have compiled a list of seven centre-backs we could target if Manchester City beat us to Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk…

For us right now, this doesn’t bear thinking about, especially considering our rivals have spent what seems like billions of pounds on central defenders over the past few seasons – and already shelled out £80m on new talent this summer!

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The Echo’s list, which includes players from the main leagues in Europe, is, in the most part, quite uninspiring.

Below, we’ve listed their names and our thoughts on each.

Premier League: Ben Mee – Burnley

If we sign Mee as our centre-back for the 2017/18 season, expect rioting to break outside the stadium and the internet to shutdown, simply!

Championship: Pontus Jansson – Leeds

As impressive as the Swede has been in English football’s second tier, the Championship is not somewhere Liverpool should be shopping for upgrades on Joel Matip and Dejan Lovren.

Bundeliga: Jerome Boateng – Bayern Munich

A world-class defender, who was underused in Germany last year. Boateng’s not especially pleased about his current position, telling SportBild: “I didn’t play much so it’s normal that I’m not entirely happy.” The German has PL experience with Manchester City but is a much better defender now. If Van Dijk’s a no-go, Boateng’s a no-brainer…

Serie A: Kalidou Koulibaly – Napoli

Most similar to Van Dijk stylistically in this list. The Senegalese is 6 ft. 5′, very powerful and composed on the ball. He’d cost a mammoth sum, like Southampton’s Dutchman, but is the only player apart from Boateng, mentioned on this list, that we’d be happy with.

La Liga: Mauricio Lemos – Las Palmas

A 21-year-old who’s been tracked by Barcelona, Lemos reminds us of a young David Luiz, which isn’t a good thing when we’re looking for solid defenders to stabilise a leaky backline (despite how good the Brazilian was this term). Talented, but not the player we need.

Eredivisie: Davison Sanchez – Ajax

Let Sanchez develop at Ajax rather than on our bench. Not an improvement on what we already have.

Ligue 1: Malang Sarr – Nice

We can’t imagine Sarr’s team-mate Mario Balotelli will give Liverpool especially rave reviews if we were interested! The youngster is only 18-years-old and we require experience and leadership over potential. Joe Gomez deserves a chance before we buy someone like Sarr.