Jurgen Klopp has revealed that he does not expect Liverpool to bring in a centre-back before next week’s transfer deadline despite their current injury woes in defence.
Injuries to Joe Gomez and Joel Matip – and the departure of Dejan Lovren – meant Fabinho started as a makeshift centre-half alongside Virgil van Dijk in the Premier League champions’ 2-0 victory over Chelsea last weekend.
The Brazilian produced a superb performance at Stamford Bridge and was unlucky to miss out on the man of the match award but Liverpool continue to be linked with possible defensive signings, including Napoli’s Kalidou Koulibaly and Sevilla’s Diego Carlos.
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However, Liverpool are not actively looking to strengthen at the back and Klopp is anticipating a quiet end to the summer transfer window – unless the club’s injury crisis worsens over the coming days.
‘I don’t expect a lot to happen to be honest,’ Liverpool head coach Klopp said ahead of the side’s match with Arsenal.
‘You think you are well covered, we have three absolutely top centre-halves, young players in line, Fabinho at the back if you want and then all of a sudden three players are out for a few days and that is not nice.
‘But you cannot solve that in the transfer market. That is just not possible.
‘We will not even try if nothing more serious happens. I hope we don’t have to try that.
‘If the situation stays like it is at the moment then there will be nothing.
‘All the rest, we are in quite a good place squad-wise and what the outgoings will be I have no idea at the moment. We will see.’
Klopp says Thiago Alcantara’s 45-minute performance against ten-man Chelsea was the ‘perfect’ match for the Spaniard to showcase his ability.
‘The Chelsea game was the perfect game for him because it was not about getting used to each other,’ the German added.
‘He could play in the centre and play from one side to the other and chip the ball behind, stuff like this.
‘These are things which are easy for him but it will not always be like this. Thiago knows that.
‘We wanted to use Friday’s session to take a step in the right direction in training and work on some things with him.’
