Report: Liverpool readying plans to sign 'the best defender in the world' after Giovanni Leoni injury
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Giovanni Leoni’s long-term knee injury may force Liverpool into the winter transfer market in 2026.
The Reds were close to bolstering their centre-back ranks further this summer with the arrival of Marc Guehi on transfer deadline day.
Although Crystal Palace ultimately pulled the plug on Guehi’s move to Anfield, it is clear that Liverpool are planning to add another defender to their squad.
Guehi could still join Liverpool, but if he does arrive it is currently seen as more likely to be at the end of the season, rather than in January.
With only three senior centre-backs to pick from for the foreseeable future, Arne Slot and Richard Hughes may have to come up with an alternative plan.
And according to reports in Italy, Liverpool are making plans for an assault on Juventus for Gleison Bremer.
Photo by Daniele Badolato – Juventus FC/Juventus FC via Getty Images
Liverpool’s centre-back options could look very different by this time next year.
There is a chance both Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez leave at the end of the season.
If that is the case, then Liverpool will need a minimum of two players through the door to replace them.
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And while Guehi appears to remain the first choice option, the Reds will definitely need to keep another one up their sleeve.
According to Tutto Juve, that player is Bremer, who Liverpool are said to have ‘firmly focused’ on as a target.
The 28-year-old is even said to be Liverpool’s first choice now that a deal for Guehi looks ‘complicated.’
Unfortunately for the Reds, though, a deal for Bremer will reportedly not be an easy one to agree either.
It’s claimed that Juventus will attempt to hold off any attempts for them to sell the Brazilian.
After Leoni’s injury, many Liverpool supporters will be imploring their team to enter the market in January.
Whether that is a realistic wish or not remains to be seen.
If they do decide to go big on a new centre-back, however, it feels unlikely that it will be Bremer.
The Brazil international has only recently recovered from a long-term knee injury of his own, and at 28 there is no guarantee he will return to his previous level.
Nevertheless, Bremer is clearly a quality footballer.
Back when he was managing Lazio, now Juventus boss Igor Tudor, is said to have called the former Torino man ‘the best defender in the world.’
“Look, there’s a defender over there who, for me, is the best in the world,” Tudor told Lazio forward Alex Castellanos.