I want Liverpool to sign one player in January and he may be enough to win Jürgen Klopp a treble
Liverpool only needs one transfer in January to potentially catapult Jürgen Klopp toward a treble or a quadruple. The Reds could really do with finding someone.
Liverpool manager Jürgen Klopp could really do with a January signing.
(Image: Photo by John Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)Christmas has passed and the new year is nearly upon us. And for Liverpool, there is a real chance of glory in 2024. Top of the table at the halfway point in the Premier League season, there are three more pieces of silverware still up for grabs on top of that as well.
Few people would have anticipated that Liverpool would be as advanced in its rebuilding phase at this point, and even fewer would have dared suggest that Manchester City would have dropped as many points as it has. For a combination of those two factors, Jürgen Klopp’s side finds itself right in the middle of a title race.
While it is possible, as always, that Manchester City could go on a lengthy winning run, it simultaneously feels slightly unlikely that Pep Guardiola’s side will be quite so formidable this time around. You can never rule it out, but a closer-run race to the finish line feels realistic, with Arsenal in with a good shout as well.
But if fine margins are to make all the difference, then Liverpool needs to consider a January transfer. Even though Wataru Endō is heading off to AFCON, Alexis Mac Allister being back should be enough to cover for the Japanese. That means that a midfielder is not the immediate priority.
If a truly elite holding player came onto the market, Liverpool should pounce, but the chances of that happening mid-season feel slim. That would be something to consider if the right chance happened to emerge.
More importantly, however, Liverpool needs to do everything that it can to find a suitable candidate in its defense. Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas are both out injured and while both will play again this season — Robertson perhaps even before the end of next month — there is a need for another left-sided defender to be signed in 2024 regardless. You might as well try and do it now.
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Liverpool needs to bring in a player who can operate on the left side of its center-back duo, covering for Virgil van Dijk and offering another option at full-back too. Joe Gomez can play all across the back line, but not all at once. He is going to have to play every game at left-back for the next few weeks at least, leaving the other positions looking very thin in terms of options.
With Joël Matip out of contract at the end of the season and Van Dijk now 32, Liverpool needs to consider what the future looks like at the back sooner rather than later. And making that signing to bolster a defense that is looking threadbare could be vital.
Klopp has already made the argument that signing the ideal player in the winter transfer window can be tricky. But Liverpool is in a position that it probably didn’t think it would be — and one that should be capitalized on.
If signing a left-sided defender is a priority for Liverpool in the long term, and in the short term it could help Klopp win another Premier League title and perhaps one or two other trophies as well (the Reds are the favorites to win both the Carabao Cup and the Europa League), it really should be a no-brainer. Plenty of names will be linked, but just one transfer could make all the difference and avoid Liverpool looking back and wondering ‘what if?’.
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Liverpool’s recent Premier League victory away to Burnley ended two successive draws at Anfield against rivals Manchester United and title contenders Arsenal, with the latter’s recent dropped points meaning Jurgen Klopp’s side will head into the new year in first place.
Of course, there is so much action yet to take place and injuries have made life tough for Liverpool, who have deceived prevalent praise for their success this season while still leaving plenty of room for improvement.
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Then again, while some might claim that the Reds are ‘overachieving’, Klopp deserves all the plaudits for discarding the struggling engine room of last term and welcoming four exciting additions to return the squad to title-chasing calibre.
These acquisitions – Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch – came at the expense of several other touted players throughout the summer months, though with the winter transfer window now just around the corner, Klopp appears to be lining up a bid for such a previous target.
Liverpool transfer news – Manu Kone
According to transfer specialist Rudy Galetti, Liverpool are back in for Borussia Monchengladbach midfielder Manu Kone, whose contract expires in 2026 and is also being monitored by Tottenham Hotspur and Paris Saint-Germain.
While the Bundesliga side have no immediate urgency to cash in on the 22-year-old, he was available for a ballpark €35m (£30m) in the summer after impressing with his performances in Germany.
Fabrizio Romano was among the reporters in the summer to confirm that the Anfield side were eager to add Kone to the ranks, and though Klopp ultimately focussed his attention elsewhere, the rising star remains on the shortlist and could be signed in January.
Manu Kone’s style of play
Kone has chalked up 70 displays for Gladbach since signing from his homeland team Toulouse in 2021, leading the German club’s former sporting director Max Eberl to declare him an “interesting” player and a “top talent”.
Swiftly asserting himself as an elite ball-carrier with adept defensive skills and a positional awareness that allows him to track and impede runners, Kone has got heads turning – with Liverpool at the front of the line.
Highlighting his skills, journalist Antonio Mango said: “Koné does all his work in the centre of the pitch, capable of leading attacking, he’s fantastic at transitioning from defence to attack. Koné has a little bit of swagger about him but in a good way, very confident and composed in possession and accomplished when being pressed.”
| Manu Kone: Key Characteristics | |
|---|---|
| Strengths | Weaknesses |
| Dribbling | Aerial duels |
| Tackling | Discipline |
| Passing | |
| Long shots | |
| *Sourced via WhoScored | |
This season, the 11-cap France U21 international’s progress has been hampered by injury but he has started to find his feet in recent months, starting five of Gladbach’s past six outings in the German top-flight.
Across his eight appearances in the league, Kone has completed 88% of his passes and averaged 2.1 tackles, 5.3 ball recoveries and 2.5 dribbles per game; while yet to return to his finest form, the core qualities on display denote his pedigree as one of the most talented midfield prospects around.
As per FBref, he ranks among the top 21% of midfielders across Europe’s top five leagues over the past year for pass completion, the top 13% for progressive carries, the top 2% for successful take-ons and the top 13% for tackles per 90.
He’s certainly proved his level against high-quality opposition, with talent scout Jacek Kulig saying last season: “Another fantastic performance against Bayern. One-man army in midfield.”
While the £32k-per-week gem is a multi-functional player with a dynamic approach to his craft, his defensive skill set appears to have enough about it that Klopp has decided to reignite his interest, with a transfer to Merseyside surely coming with the caveat that he will be deployed, principally, in the holding midfield role.
How Manu Kone compares to Wataru Endo
Liverpool enjoyed a successful midfield rebuild in the summer but still need to sign a specialist No. 6 to fortify the centre of the park for years to come, despite signing Endo from Stuttgart for £16m in August.
The Japan international was targetted after the Reds failed to stop both Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia from joining Chelsea, and while this move was met with surprise initially, he has proved to be an industrious and important member of Klopp’s high-flying side, having started the past five Premier League matches.
Of course, the decision to sign the midfielder perhaps even surprised Klopp himself, but he has popped up with some big moments – scoring a crucial thumping effort in a dramatic late turnaround against Fulham – to ensure that the side returns to form this season.
Further, having started all of his outfit’s Europa League and Carabao Cup encounters – with Liverpool having topped their continental group stage and advanced to the semi-finals of the domestic competition – his ability to impress and serve consistently across multiple competitions has been vital to the fight for silverware.
Previously hailed as a “proper warrior and leader” by Bundesliga commentator Kevin Thatchard, the £50k-per-week star has been something of an unsung hero this season, but at 30 years old, he is not the lasting solution that Kone could prove to be in the future.
While he is an assiduous player, Endo is not one to progress the ball forward himself, nor is he the most inventive with his distribution, and while this is no detriment to his game, there is a sense that Klopp might opt for a more dynamic option for the years ahead.
Given Kone’s expansive style and robustness, it’s hardly surprising that Liverpool want to add him to the fold, and though he’s definitely not the finished article, this is something that could play into the Anfield club’s hands, allowing him time to develop while competing against the experienced Endo for a starting spot in the future.
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