A survey conducted by the Liverpool Echo has revealed which player (warning: it’s not Dayot Upamecano) most fans believe the club needs: Serie A star Kalidou Koulibaly.
The Napoli man was the top choice for 40% of supporters, with Upamecano coming in close behind with 35% of the vote and Ozan Kabak filling in at third-place with 8%.
It’s not a massive surprise that most of you have identified a defender as being the priority, given the current injury crisis faced at the back.
With Jurgen Klopp unable to rely on Joel Matip – despite his obvious talent – to string a successive number of games for us in the centre of defence, to exit the January transfer window without another centre-back brought in would be near negligent.
The argument will be made that the German will be faced with striking a difficult balance in terms of deciding playing time when Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez make their returns, but is it worth sacrificing a title defence this season?
At the top of the league (for now) Liverpool are hardly in a horrific position, despite our poor spate of recent results, and we could ensure a smoother passage with the likes of Upamecano or Koulibaly at the back.
It’s probably quite unlikely we’ll be able to prise the 29-year-old from Napoli in January, but it’s great to see the fans thinking big.
The best option might actually be Toni Rudiger. He is out of Lampards thinking, has Premier League experience, is German and is very combative. Might be worth offering Chelsea a modest fee to see if they are interested.