Update on LFC January plan, latest on Lemar and Mahrez – Joyce

With just over three weeks to go in the January transfer window, The Times’ Paul Joyce has provided an update on what Liverpool’s plans are as they stand.

The Reds are on a fine run of form at the moment having gone 17 games unbeaten in all competitions, and we hope that will be extended when we face Man City on Sunday.

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However, following the exit of Philippe Coutinho, it has raised the question over whether or not we’ll bring in any new faces this month to strengthen the squad.

According to Joyce in his post for The Times, we’re not actively pushing to sign either Thomas Lemar or Riyad Mahrez from Monaco or Leicester City respectively, although importantly he notes that Jurgen Klopp has the backing of FSG if he identifies a player he believes can make a big impact for us from January onwards.

Meanwhile, it’s added that our boss wants to push through a deal for Naby Keita this month rather than wait for him to arrive in a £57m deal this summer.

Whether or not a new agreement for that to happen can be made remains to be seen, but the 22-year-old would certainly provide us all with a lift if he were to arrive.

The most important thing at this stage though is that Klopp can continue to get the balance right. Our momentum will hopefully be unbroken despite losing one of our best players, and in turn we can maintain our current form moving forward with the added bonus of Virgil van Dijk marshalling our backline.

Keita evidently ticks the boxes for us and so if a January move can be agreed upon then we’ll be better off for it, and it’s also reassuring to know that if Klopp does identify another key signing, it sounds as though he’ll expect to be backed in the market.