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The Premier League champions need to fortify the heart of their defence, but the 28-year-old is not part of their long-term thinking
The pair were in a similar situation: high earners, pedigreed top achievers, certain to exit Bayern with their contracts running out.
There is also the acknowledgment that a mid-season signing, without proper training time to bed in and feeling instant expectation and pressure, also offers no guarantees.
As with Jurgen Klopp's other summer signings ahead of this season, Tsimikas’ impact at the Anfield side has been thwarted.
Liverpool’s thinking was that the appeal for signing a player of his age and salary, who didn’t quite fit their centre-back profile, was that he could operate at left fullback too.
Club sources say there are no designs on recruiting around the age of 30 for the position and that a move for Alaba is “a hard no.”
Liverpool's defensive crisis has been impeding their offensive play and there is an acceptance and understanding that it is a risk not to make a move this month - not for a lack of trying.
While the defender’s skillset is appreciated by Liverpool, he is understood to be too small - his height is 1.8m in comparison to Van Dijk (1.93m), Matip (1.95m), Gomez (1.88m) - and not strong enough aerially for their requirements at centre-back.
Any attraction to plumping for Alaba as well disappeared when Kostas Tsimikas was brought in to deputise for Andy Robertson.