Liverpool are in desperate, desperate need of a centre-back, and it could be that Shkodran Mustafi will come in and shore up our backline – which is not a sentence we thought we’d be writing at the start of the season…
But last night, Joel Matip, almost permanently unavailable, did his ankle ligaments and we’d be surprised to see him play until April.
His inability to stay fit is so, so difficult – for him, the fans and Jurgen Klopp – but something must now be done; especially with Fabinho not playing last night due to a muscle injury.
Kevin Palmer of the Sunday World in Ireland has claimed Arsenal’s Mustafi, out of favour at the Emirates, could be seen as an option, citing Mikel Arteta’s comments on allowing the defender an exit as evidence
“We are having conversations internally with the player and agent,” said Arteta on Mustafi. “We will see what the right solution is for this one as well.
“We are monitoring the situation, I cannot say much more than that. We have conversations ongoing and we’ll see what’s the best decision at the end of the transfer window.”
Mustafi is not a player to get us excited, but we’d absolutely take him over nobody. He has Premier League and Champions League experience – and will help plug a gap until the summer.
Ideally, we’d bring in two defenders before deadline day, but don’t think Liverpool will.
He’s a bigger liability than Lovren.
Rather stick with Phillips