Liverpool next transfer could rest on contract issue Jurgen Klopp and FSG have to agree on
If Liverpool's midfield department underwent a revolution last summer, its defensive equivalent will be more of an evolution when it finally arrives.
Having lost as many as five central midfielders last summer in Jordan Henderson, Fabinho, James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, whose total number of appearances for the club weighed in at a whopping 1,245 between them, the Reds' rebuild of their engine room was sudden and significant.
Four replaced the five as Dominik Szoboszlai, Alexis Mac Allister, Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo arrived for around £150m in total. It was quite the outlay for a club without the funds of Champions League participation, particularly one like Liverpool, who so often need the bounty provided by European football's main tournament. The size of the undertaking, however, proved it was a necessary one that has since bore fruit.
In defence, however, the Reds' renovation of their centre-back department will be more gradual, less intense and completed, theoretically, without those on the inside having to strategise for unplanned departures like club captain Henderson and Fabinho, who both made shock moves to Saudi Arabia in July.
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The injury to Joel Matip in December places the club in an awkward position where the long-serving veteran is concerned. The defender was having a fine season at the back alongside new skipper Virgil van Dijk when he suffered an ACL rupture in a 4-3 win over Fulham in early December.
Now into the final months of his Anfield contract and facing the prospect of a long road back to real
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