Personal terms agreed for defender & forward hunt begins – Liverpool’s January transfer window predicted

27.12.2023 18:07

Empire of The Kop

Liverpool’s growing injury list and the impending absence of Mo Salah for the AFCON in January and beyond may very well force the club to dip into the upcoming window. Injuries to Kostas Tsimikas, Andy Robertson and Joel Matip (season-ending for the latter) should force the spotlight on the backline. That said, there is also […]

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Liverpool’s growing injury list and the impending absence of Mo Salah for the AFCON in January and beyond may very well force the club to dip into the upcoming window.

Injuries to Kostas Tsimikas, Andy Robertson and Joel Matip (season-ending for the latter) should force the spotlight on the backline.

That said, there is also a case to be made for the forward line amid the general struggle for goals beyond Mo Salah.

Centre-back a priority

Gonçalo Inacio is the flavour of the month ahead of the opening of the January transfer window.

As a left-sided centre-back (though has played on the right of a back three for Sporting), it should come as no surprise as to why the Portuguese has been heavily linked with an Anfield move.

The question is whether Liverpool deem him intriguing an option enough to justify meeting his £52m release clause.

If not Inacio, we rather suspect a centre-back signing will be the minimum objective the club hopes to meet in January.

Opportune time to find a Salah heir?

There should be absolutely no appetite for selling Mo Salah in the summer as far as we’re concerned.

That said, some future-planning in a position that will lose an irreplaceable level of quality when the Egyptian King does eventually call time on his Anfield career certainly wouldn’t go amiss.

Given how unlikely it is that we discover a regen of our beloved right winger, we can reasonably expect some variance in the profile potentially favoured.

Johan Bakayoko has been one name presented as a potentially ideal addition, though by no means the bolt-on, first-choice option to be Salah’s understudy.

If looking for statistical similarities, FBref have Aston Villa’s Moussa Diaby and Dortmund’s Donyell Malen listed as possible routes.

The latter is far more likely to depart at this early stage in the season, though it remains to be seen whether this will be a window of serious surgery for Liverpool.

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