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‘Liverpool won’t sign a centre-half until the summer’ – Matteo sees Klopp opting to stick rather than twist
The Reds have seen plenty of targets mooted for the January window, but a former defender at Anfield is not expecting any movement
Liverpool will wait until the summer before looking to add another centre-half to their ranks, says Dominic Matteo, with Jurgen Klopp expected to make do for now despite nursing his squad through an injury crisis.
Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez remain unavailable to the Reds boss, as they continue their respective recoveries from knee injuries, but Joel Matip has stepped off the treatment table and back into the side.
With that in mind, and Fabinho providing reliable cover in the other centre-half berth, Matteo is not convinced that the reigning Premier League champions will add before the next deadline passes.
Jurgen Klopp is weighing up his options, with plenty suggesting that he does need to spend as a title defence starts to unravel, but it remains to be seen if the required funds will be made available.
It may be that the Anfield board decide to keep the purse strings tightened until the next window, when Liverpool will be in a better position to address recruitment needs across the board.
Former Reds defender Matteo has told Stadium Astro of the transfer talk on Merseyside: “It’s a difficult window.
“We have got some good young players, they are just not quite ready yet. That’s the reason they haven’t had more opportunities, and they probably haven’t got the quality that we need to be seeing week in, week out.
“I think it’s area they will have looked at and thought can we do some business? I don’t think they will. I think they will stick with what they have.
“Matip and Fabinho will be fine playing centre-half, it’s just if they got another injury now and they had to play one of the young lads or [Jordan] Henderson back in there again, then we will struggle.
“I don’t think we will try and sign another centre-half until next season.”
Klopp has claimed that recruitment calls on Merseyside remain out of his hands, despite continuing to scour the market.
He needs to find inspiration from somewhere, starting in an FA Cup fourth-round clash with Manchester United on Sunday, as the Reds have gone five games without a Premier League win and failed to find the target in four of those fixtures.
