Although many eyes are on what Liverpool will be doing in the midfield of our squad this summer, it appears that we also have high hopes of reinforcing the centre-back department – with three targets now being named.
Writing for CaughtOffside, Ben Jacobs said: ‘Liverpool do want a centre-back, though. Frankfurt’s Evan Ndicka (who is available on a free with several clubs looking, including Jose Mourinho’s Roma), Napoli’s Kim Min-jae (who has a release clause active for 15 days this summer) and Josko Gvardiol have all been considered to name but three.
‘With the obvious exception of Leipzig’s Gvardiol, who will command a fee of at least £80-85m, Liverpool could probably get 3-4 of the above players for the same outlay as Bellingham with all costs considered. That’s ultimately why they have decided to exit the race for the Dortmund star’.
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It’s not the first time that any of these three names have been linked with the Reds and after Giannis Chorianopoulos exclusively revealed to Empire of the Kop that he is ‘at least 90% sure that a centre-back will come to Liverpool’ this summer, it seems that the Reds are looking to strengthen our defence.
Evan Ndicka has previously had his links to Anfield ruled out by Neil Jones and so, despite the Eintracht Frankfurt defender being available on a free transfer, it had seemed that this move was already dead in the water.
As for Kim Min-jae, whose short-lived release clause has been revealed as being just £42 million, we could secure an affordable deal but only if we move fast – something Napoli will surely look to block.
Josko Gvardiol is probably the name that has already been most touted as a possible addition but the price tag of up to £85 million, seems out of reach with what we need to spend on central defenders.
With Jurgen Klopp ready to strengthen our midfield, it seems unnecessary to spend too much money in an area of the pitch where we already have Virgil van Dijk, Ibou Konate, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez, Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams.
It will be interesting to see how much we set aside to spend on our defence this summer.
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