Few managers in the Premier League will be as aware of the impact of a successful January addition as Jurgen Klopp.
It’s six years now since Liverpool rubber-stamped the club-record £75m arrival of Virgil van Dijk from Southampton and the current captain has gone on to establish himself as a modern-day great during that time, helping inspire a run that saw the club win every top-level trophy available between 2019 and 2022.
The capture of Luis Diaz two years ago from Porto was also the catalyst for a sustained assault on what would have been an unprecedented quadruple. The Colombia international was arguably the Reds’ man of the match in both domestic finals as they won the League Cup and FA Cup before Klopp’s men picked up runners-up medals in the Premier League and Champions League.
And 12 months ago, the addition of Cody Gakpo to Liverpool’s frontline eventually helped them regain solid ground after a turbulent season. The Dutchman scored seven times in total that included two classy strikes in that famous 7-0 humiliation of Manchester United in March.
Clearly, then, there is merit in exploring the options available in the winter window, even if conventional wisdom portrays it as a sellers’ market. Going back further, the Reds have benefitted hugely from the mid-season signing of players like Daniel Agger, Javier Mascherano, Luis Suarez, Philippe Coutinho and Daniel Sturridge. A successful January can often be as important to long-term hopes as the work undertaken in the summer months when the window is three times as long.
Heading into 2024, however, it’s unclear how much appetite there is within the Liverpool ranks to significantly improve a side who can extend their lead at the top of the Premier League to three points with victory at home to Newcastle United on New Year’s Day.
The summer saw a quartet of midfielders signed up in Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboszlai, Wataru Endo and Ryan Gravenberch, but the money recouped through the sales of Fabinho and Jordan Henderson meant the club shelled out under £100m. More significantly was the money saved on wages as high earners like the aforementioned Fabinho and Henderson left alongside James Milner, Roberto Firmino and Naby Keita.
Klopp is always at pains to stress that Liverpool’s operating model under owners Fenway Sports Group means the Champions League bounty is vital for recruitment. But while the Reds can be optimistic about their hopes of regaining their place at the top table of European football next term, any reluctance around entering into the market this month is more likely to be down to the inability to source the right player.
Liverpool and FSG showed in the summer that even without the funds afforded to them by Champions League participation they are still willing and able to bid huge sums when they deem the ‘right player’ to be available. What would have been a British-record £111m offer for Moises Caicedo, then of Brighton, however, failed to come off as the Ecuador international chose Chelsea instead in August.
Conversely, the Reds have also demonstrated an unwillingness to simply pay what is being demanded if they do not feel a certain player has that value, which is determined by the club’s in-house player valuation models using a series of performance analysis techniques.
Southampton’s insistence that Romeo Lavia was worth £50m back in August is proof of that. The Belgian international, like Caicedo, eventually went to Chelsea after a handful of offers from Anfield around the £40m mark were turned down by the Saints. Liverpool had the money but refused to go near the asking price.
Gravenberch had been a long-standing target for the Reds with the club opening initial talks with his father and representatives in the Spring only to eventually get him through the door in the final hours of the August 31 deadline. Much of the space in between the opening of dialogue and eventually signing him were characterised by the Netherlands U21 international awaiting his Bayern Munich fate having barely featured in the Bundesliga. External factors are often a circumstance that are overlooked by supporters.
Those summer sagas – particularly the Caicedo fallout – means it is hard to predict what might happen in January as far as their transfer plans go. That the Reds pivoted to the unheralded Endo when Caicedo fell through at around a tenth of the price makes it now hard to second guess what might happen at the AXA Training Centre this month.
Sporting director Jorg Schmadtke was initially taken on at the club on a one-year deal to succeed Julian Ward with the understanding being that the German could walk away in the summer months if the working relationship was not proving to be a fruitful one. That Schmadtke remains in situ at least indicates Liverpool and Klopp were happy with his performance in the summer as the club completed three of their deals with Bundesliga clubs with whom the former goalkeeper was familiar with after his time performing the role at Wolfsburg.
The Reds were disappointed with the lack of game-time given to Fabio Carvalho during his season-long loan with RB Leipzig and confirmed on Sunday that the young forward had been returned to his parent club. Klopp is keen to get Carvalho more senior minutes and Liverpool are assessing their options. It is almost certain the 21-year-old won’t be brought back into the first-team fold just yet.
The search for a long-term incumbent for the No.6 position at Anfield goes on, despite both Mac Allister and Endo operating there this term. Genoa midfielder Morten Frendrup is one who is being monitored. The young Dane is enjoying a good season in Serie A although a deal is unlikely to be done in January as the scouts continue to assess the development of the 22-year-old defensive-minded midfielder. His non-homegrown status is considered a drawback at this stage.
The best laid plans at Liverpool sometimes have to be torn up due to those external factors, with the transfer of Diaz from Porto in 2022 the perfect example. The Reds had earmarked the winger for a summer deal before strong interest from Tottenham forced the club to act decisively in the closing stages of the winter window.
A Zoom meeting involving Klopp, his assistant Pep Lijnders and then sporting director Ward was hurriedly put together to go on the charm offensive for Diaz after a breakthrough with the Portuguese giants before a delegation was dispatched to South America to conclude a medical while he was on international duty.
Nat Phillips will return to Liverpool after the end of his six-month terms with Celtic and another short-term switch away from Anfield will be considered. The season-ending injury to Joel Matip has opened up the door slightly to Phillips but the emergence of Jarell Quansah means the Reds are not as pressed for defensive reinforcements with Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate also capable of playing alongside club captain Virgil van Dijk.
Liverpool have been keen to move Phillips on permanently in recent years but the centre-back remains on the books and has seen his chances limited at Celtic under Brendan Rodgers.
Two players who are almost certain to remain at Liverpool this month are Kaide Gordon and Ben Doak. The young wingers have been spoken about as two who could potentially benefit from loan moves elsewhere but the manager is keen to retain them around the first-team setup, feeling any short-term moves away can wait for now. “Especially after long injuries, you should not immediately think that now he is fit we can send them out [on loan],” Klopp said last month.
Dundee boss Tony Docherty confirmed last week that Liverpool are in talks over a potential recall of Owen Beck given the injuries to Andy Robertson and Kostas Tsimikas at left-back. Liverpool have both Calum Scanlon and Luke Chambers also available to them and Gomez will continue to deputise there before Robertson’s return is given the green light.
What the landscape looks like at the start of January is sometimes markedly different to how it appears in the final days of the window, however, and while Liverpool would ideally like to keep their powder dry for the summer months, when there is more time and space – as well as fewer competitive games – the idea of dipping into the market to bolster a squad that is suddenly challenging at the top might appeal at Anfield. It promises to be an interesting month.
