According to pundit John Hartson, Liverpool don’t exactly need to bring in a new defender despite their apparent crisis at the back.
Liverpool don’t need to sign a new defender as it could create tension at the club, says John Hartson.
The Premier League champions were dealt a huge blow as Virgil Van Dijk suffered a serious knee injury against Everton.
The Dutchman’s ACL injury came as a result of a collision with Jordan Pickford. He has since had surgery and he is now expected to miss the rest of the season.
Jurgen Klopp’s woes at center-back got worse when Fabinho was also forced off with an injury to his hamstring in midweek against FC Midtjylland.
With Joel Matip also out, this has left Joe Gomez as their only senior center-back option. Liverpool have been forced to draft in Nat Phillips and Rhys Willams in the meantime. The two youngsters only have six senior Reds appearances between them.
This has fuelled talk that Liverpool will spend big in January to sign a new center-back. Schalke defender Ozan Kabak has already been strongly linked with the club.
But Hartson thinks Klopp should not sign a new center-back despite their injury troubles.
“When you look at Jurgen Klopp, he’s got two natural [center-backs] coming through in [Rhys] Williams and [Nat] Phillips,” he told Stadium Astro.
“So he doesn’t want to rock the boat too much.”
“If you’ve got them two coming through, you’ve got [Joel] Matip and also Fabinho who can play there as well as anyone else.”
“If you’re playing Thiago, you wouldn’t play him alongside Fabinho in defensive midfield.”
“For me, you’ve got three or four ready-made center-backs there to cover for van Dijk and play alongside Joe Gomez.”
“I don’t think Klopp will do top dollar. I’m not sure whether he’ll pay £75m or £80m for one of the best center-backs in the world.”
“It won’t be £70m, £80m or £90m for the best because he’ll believe in the players he’s also got.”
“We’ve seen Phillips today. He could come on and become and great player, so he doesn’t want to rock the boat and have too many options.”
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