Jamie Carragher urges Liverpool to complete January transfer - 'They have to'

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Jamie Carragher has urged Liverpool to sign a new centre-back in January when the transfer window re-opensJamie Carragher insists Liverpool need to sign a new centre-back at least in January, despite bringing in eight new senior players as part of a £450m squad overhaul last summer. The Reds broke the British transfer record twice to sign Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, and also spent significant fees on Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Giovanni Leoni.Liverpool also tried to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, only to see the Eagles block a £35m move for the England international at the 11th hour on transfer deadline day.The Reds remain interested in the defender, who is out of contract at the end of the season, though it remains to be seen if they will revisit their interest in January.READ MORE: Liverpool gave me five-year contract and sold me days later - I was heartbrokenLiverpool currently only boast three available senior options at centre-back in Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez after Leoni suffered a season-ending ACL injury on his debut.But both Konate and Gomez face uncertain futures at the club, with the France international out of contract at the end of the season and the England international tipped for an exit last summer, having attracted interest from the likes of AC Milan and Brighton & Hove Albion, prior to the collapse of Guehi’s own transfer.With Van Dijk set to turn 35 next summer ahead of entering the final year of his Reds contract, Liverpool will also be considering a succession plan for life after their captain.The Reds have struggled defensively this season, conceding 17 goals from 11 Premier League games and keeping just four clean sheets all season.

And having lost seven of their last 10 matches, they current sit eighth in the table and trail league-leaders Arsenal by eight points.And Carragher, who also conceded on the Overlap that his former club risk failing to qualify for the Champions League if they do not sign a centre-back in January, has urged Liverpool to strengthen their ranks when the transfer window re-opens or risk their campaign being derailed even further."Liverpool need to spend in January, they need to buy a centre-back, they should have bought a centre-back in the summer," he said on Inside: Liverpool, a one-off documentary on Sky Sports Premier League."They didn't, and then the one centre-back they did buy, Leoni, a young Italian player, looked fantastic in the game that he played, a Carabao Cup game. Unfortunately, he got an ACL injury, so we won't see him until next season."Liverpool are probably one injury away at centre-back from really derailing the season, so they have to go to the market in January.”Sky Sports discounted Premier League and EFL packageThis article contains affiliate links, we will receive a commission on any sales we generate from it.

Learn moreSky has slashed the price of its Essential TV and Sky Sports bundle for the 2025/26 season, saving members £336 and offering more than 1,400 live matches across the Premier League, EFL and more.Sky will show at least 215 live Premier League games this season, an increase of up to 100 more.Liverpool continue to be linked with a move for Guehi, while they are also reportedly interested in Antoine Semenyo - with the Bournemouth forward said to have a £65m release clause in his contract that can be activated in January.Were the Reds to bolster their ranks in January, it would likely take their spending for the season to around the £500m mark.But while Liverpool’s summer outlay has been used as a stick to beat them with, given their flailing Premier League title defence, Carragher insists the Reds had little choice but to be so active in the summer given the number of players that also moved on."I do feel that they did need to bring that number of players in during the summer,” he said. “I can go through the team of last season.“[Kostas] Tsimikas, the manager didn't really have confidence in him, so you needed to buy a left-back. [Jarrell] Quansah moved on, the manager didn't really have confidence in him.