Christmas has passed and the new year is nearly upon us. And for Liverpool, there is a real chance of glory in 2024. Top of the table at the halfway point in the Premier League season, there are three more pieces of silverware still up for grabs on top of that as well.
Few people would have anticipated that Liverpool would be as advanced in its rebuilding phase at this point, and even fewer would have dared suggest that Manchester City would have dropped as many points as it has. For a combination of those two factors, Jürgen Klopp’s side finds itself right in the middle of a title race.
While it is possible, as always, that Manchester City could go on a lengthy winning run, it simultaneously feels slightly unlikely that Pep Guardiola’s side will be quite so formidable this time around. You can never rule it out, but a closer-run race to the finish line feels realistic, with Arsenal in with a good shout as well.
But if fine margins are to make all the difference, then Liverpool needs to consider a January transfer. Even though Wataru Endō is heading off to AFCON, Alexis Mac Allister being back should be enough to cover for the Japanese. That means that a midfielder is not the immediate priority.
If a truly elite holding player came onto the market, Liverpool should pounce, but the chances of that happening mid-season feel slim. That would be something to consider if the right chance happened to emerge.
More importantly, however, Liverpool needs to do everything that it can to find a suitable candidate in its defense. Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas are both out injured and while both will play again this season — Robertson perhaps even before the end of next month — there is a need for another left-sided defender to be signed in 2024 regardless. You might as well try and do it now.
Liverpool needs to bring in a player who can operate on the left side of its center-back duo, covering for Virgil van Dijk and offering another option at full-back too. Joe Gomez can play all across the back line, but not all at once. He is going to have to play every game at left-back for the next few weeks at least, leaving the other positions looking very thin in terms of options.
With Joël Matip out of contract at the end of the season and Van Dijk now 32, Liverpool needs to consider what the future looks like at the back sooner rather than later. And making that signing to bolster a defense that is looking threadbare could be vital.
Klopp has already made the argument that signing the ideal player in the winter transfer window can be tricky. But Liverpool is in a position that it probably didn’t think it would be — and one that should be capitalized on.
If signing a left-sided defender is a priority for Liverpool in the long term, and in the short term it could help Klopp win another Premier League title and perhaps one or two other trophies as well (the Reds are the favorites to win both the Carabao Cup and the Europa League), it really should be a no-brainer. Plenty of names will be linked, but just one transfer could make all the difference and avoid Liverpool looking back and wondering ‘what if?’.
