5 transfers Jurgen Klopp needs to make to turn Liverpool into title contenders
The English Premier League is famously the only ship that has never docked at Liverpool. Once a dominant force in England, Liverpool have been left to battle for a top 4 place at most during the Premier League era. They have finished second only three times.
The league title will likely once again elude the Reds this season with Jurgen Klopp's side already over ten points off the top, sitting 5th.
Klopp was hired to mould Liverpool into title challengers, but the German has so far failed at that. The team has many holes that don't allow them to be at the very top in the league. The squad needs some serious strengthening and here's an overview of five transfers Klopp needs to do in order to turn Liverpool into a Premier League title contender:
#5 Sign a top-class centre-back
The talks of Liverpool needing a top-class centre-back is sounding like a broken record. It seems like everybody, but the man in charge of actually signing one, knows it.
Klopp made a serious push to get Virgil van Dijk from Southampton before the season started, but the South Coast side made their unwillingness to sell very clear, and Liverpool should've moved forward quickly with other targets. But they failed to do so, and to no surprise, defence has been the main worry during an up and down season.
After 11 games, Liverpool have one of the worst defensive records in the league with 17 goals conceded. Four of the five teams that have given up more goals are in the bottom 7.
The likes of Joel Matip, Dejan Lovren, and Ragnar Klavan are all proven international players, but they aren't good enough to make a team a title challenger in the top European leagues.
To be fair, Liverpool have actually done very well defensively at home this season, conceding only once at Anfield, but that makes their overall defensive record even more shocking.
They have given up three more goals away from home than the second-worst teams in the league Crystal Palace and West Ham, who are both in the relegation zone. Just think about that for a moment.
Klopp will probably go after van Dijk again during the winter transfer window, but if the Saints didn't sell their man before the season started, then why should they do it during it? It doesn't make any sense for them.
How about getting another Dutchman instead, who's also a whole lot cheaper? Stefan de Vrij's contract ends in summer 2018, so he might even come as a free transfer if Liverpool have the patience to wait until the end of the season or agree a pre-contract come January.
With the 25-year-old de Vrij at the heart of the defence, Lazio currently own one of Serie A's best defensive records, and are having a superb season with nine wins in 11 games. De Vrij is among the league's leaders in Italy with 2.5 interceptions per game, and unlike current Liverpool defenders, he also offers a goal threat, having recorded two goals in ten games.