Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp might have a grudge with owners Fenway Sports Group that could prompt a big-spending January transfer window. The Reds made just one addition to Klopp’s squad during the summer.
A defensive injury crisis derailed Liverpool’s title defence last term. Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and Joe Gomez all missed large parts of the campaign.
Ibrahima Konate was signed from RB Leipzig in July to help alleviate those issues. The Frenchman had a £36million release clause inserted into his contract with the Bundesliga side.
But Liverpool have been criticised by some fans and pundits for not signing a midfielder.
Gini Wijnaldum chose to join Paris Saint-Germain when his contract expired at the end of June and a replacement was not sought.
Klopp used the exciting 18-year-old Harvey Elliott at the start of the season but the England youth international devastatingly dislocated his ankle against Leeds in September.
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And Klopp might get his wish as it appears Liverpool’s next transfer priority will be to sign another option for the middle of the park.
According to Gazzetta dello Sport, the Anfield outfit have asked about Italy and Inter Milan star Nicolo Barella.
The 23-year-old made six appearances during the Azzurri’s successful Euro 2020 campaign and was key for Inter in helping them land their first Serie A title in 11 years last term.
In public, Klopp became frustrated by suggestions that he needed to replace Wijnaldum during the summer and even defended the club’s stance by asking journalists to tell him who they think he should sign.
“Now you tell me which player we need. I am not angry or annoyed – I am really interested – which kind of player do you think we should sign?
“Should he score more goals than Gini, should he defend better than Fab (Fabinho), should he be more creative than Naby [Keita], Curtis [Jones], Ox (Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain), Harvey [Elliott]? What do you want?”
Klopp was told that the ideal midfielder would score more goals.
He snapped back: “So he should score more goals, makes sense. I don’t know which midfielder it is then that scores more goals from that position, we never said we don’t have to improve.
“But to score more from midfield positions you have to create the situations for that. A midfielder has to play for us in a way that we play, and it’s not that easy that he’s in goalscoring situations.
“They have to do different jobs, we have a specific setup for our team. You see where our full-backs are in certain situations, we could have scored more goals, yes.
“It’s not about having a different player for that, it’s about different positioning in that situation and our boys can do that as well.”