Liverpool have been offered a European champion. It’s clear he’s ideal for Andoni Iraola but is he what the Reds need?
Liverpool lost Ibrahima Konate this summer. The Frenchman’s contract expired and he decided to join Real Madrid – something that looked on way, way back in December.
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The Reds are thus left with a difficult decision. Do they replace Konate? On the face of it, they don’t have to as Jeremy Jacquet has joined, bringing the number of centre-backs up to four.
Only, Jacquet was signed before Konate left and while Liverpool were still in contract talks with their former defender. The plan was quite clearly to have both.
One look at the centre-back options shows a problem, too. Virgil van Dijk is now 35, Jacquet is 20 and Giovanni Leoni is 19. Only Joe Gomez is in what you’d call ‘prime’ years and he’s never been one to count on for regular football.
Will Liverpool want to play most of the season with an incredibly youthful centre-back next to an incredibly experienced one? We’re not so sure and it means they might consider the centre-back market this summer.
There’s an interesting option, too. Talksport’s Alex Crook claims that Liverpool, along with Chelsea, have been offered Paris Saint-Germain’s Illia Zabarnyi.
Zabarnyi only signed for PSG last year but appears to be on his way out of the club. The Ukrainian never held down a regular spot in big games for the club and could be sold for some extra cash.
We imagine Liverpool will listen. Zabarnyi, after all, earned his move to PSG by thriving at Bournemouth under Andoni Iraola. He’s also still only 23, meaning he offers a long-term fit while still having quite a bit more experience than the Reds’ younger two centre-backs.
Premier League and elite club experience now, too. That’s a very tempting one for Liverpool as they don’t actually need this one to be a worldie of a signing.
They really just need a competent centre-back, not necessarily one who represents the future of their defence. They have Jacquet and Leoni for that, after all.
So all in all, we think Liverpool will be interested here at the right price.