Liverpool manager Arne Slot has tried to cool down growing talk about the club chasing a new centre-back in January. He pointed out that Liverpool still have three senior centre-backs available. Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konaté and Joe Gomez, and even mentioned that Ryan Gravenberch or Endo could fill in if things really get tight. As reported by Fabrizio Romano via his official X account.
He said:
Arne Slot on potential January transfer signings: We have three centre-backs, maybe Gravenberch and Endo as well. Maybe you are not aware of it yet, but we have other positions that are maybe more of an issue.
His comments arrive shortly after Konaté’s long-term future has become a quiet discussion point. The defender recently spoke about the uncertainty surrounding his contract situation, as reported by Softfootball. Slot turned the spotlight on what he feels is the real problem area right now: the right flank.
Conor Bradley is out for seven matches in a run of 22 days that already looks exhausting on paper. Jeremie Frimpong is also sidelined for roughly two or three weeks with a hamstring issue.
This leaves Liverpool without a natural right-back in one of the busiest fixture patches of the whole season, and Slot didn’t hide the fact that it complicates things more than he would like. Because of that, the conversation around January has naturally shifted to whether Liverpool will be pushed into doing something, even though Slot avoids making any promises.
The club are already watching long-term right-back options, and they’re also checking midfielders who can bring more creativity if Florian Wirtz keeps having some adaptation problems.
Liverpool have started early planning for the future after Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk, looking at players who could fit the next era. One name that came up in those discussions is Bournemouth forward Antoine Semenyo, whose situation is part of Liverpool’s long-view recruitment thinking.
