Jamie Carragher warning could haunt Liverpool as January transfer decision needed
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After spending more than $560 million in the summer transfer window, it feels absurd to suggest that Liverpool might find itself needing to dip back into the market in January, especially just over a month into the new season.
Yet, just one injury has the potential to completely change a club’s outlook, as could be the case with Giovanni Leoni.
The 18-year-old’s debut on Tuesday didn’t end in the way anyone would have hoped as he had to be stretchered off, and it does now appear that he will miss much of - if not all - the remainder of the season, with reports claiming he has torn the cruciate ligament in his left knee.
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It is a major blow for Leoni, and it also puts Liverpool and Arne Slot in a difficult position.
Having missed out on the signing of Marc Guehi on deadline day, the Reds are now left with just the three recognized center-backs in Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate, and Joe Gomez.
Being without Leoni for what looks set to be an extended period is already a big enough issue for the Reds - having any one of those three also out of the picture would make it a serious problem, and one that Jamie Carragher has feared since the summer.
“That is the one area where that could come back and blow up in their face because they haven't really got that (cover),” Carragher said last month.
?
They've got two starters and two understudies.
"Joe Gomez, injury-prone himself, and the young lad from Italy (Leoni), he is going to be a great prospect, but if you think if one of them had to play for a couple of months, it is a big difference."
Well, the prospect of Leoni being forced to step up looks to have gone out of the window now, meaning Slot will have to hope that Van Dijk, Konate, and Gomez don’t break down at any point this season, which always feels like a risky position to be in with the latter pair.
So, will Liverpool revisit the Guehi deal in January
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Only time will tell.
Certainly, if any one of the aforementioned trio joins Leoni on the treatment table, then Liverpool would surely have to dip its toe back into the transfer market, whether it’s for Guehi or anyone else.
But even without the prospect of Konate, Gomez or, even worse, Van Dijk picking up an injury, Slot and Richard Hughes should be thinking about that anyway
If Liverpool is to seriously battle it out on four fronts this season, then it will need four viable options at center-back without having to force players like Ryan Gravenberch or Wataru Endo in there.
There wasn’t too much Liverpool could have done about Palace pulling the plug on the Guehi deal on deadline day - after all, the deal was agreed