Liverpool can’t spend £50m to address centre-back shortage in difficult January window, says Barnes

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The Reds legend believes the financial impact of Covid-19 is hitting the Reds hard, with there little value to be found in winter markets anyway

Liverpool are in no position to “spend £50 million ($69m) on a player to address positional shortages”, says John Barnes, with the Reds not expected to find “the best set of centre-backs” in a difficult January market.

Jurgen Klopp has admitted that he remains in the hunt for defensive additions as another window winds down.

The clock is ticking on any efforts from the Reds to get fresh faces on board, but the focus at Anfield has been narrowed by another untimely injury for Joel Matip.

Reinforcements were considered to be required before Liverpool suffered another fitness blow in their 3-1 victory over Tottenham.

Barnes has always been of the opinion that the Reds should avoid rushing into any deals and doubts big money will be invested before the next deadline passes.

He has told BonusCodeBets: “It’d be nice if Liverpool could address the centre-back issue, but these are not usual times when you can just go out and spend £50 million on a player to address positional shortages.

“You don’t know what’s going to happen with Covid-19 and from a financial point of view you don’t know what the future holds either.

“Maybe Liverpool would feel it irresponsible to spend a lot of money now, and I don't see any club spending a lot of money.

“I don't think they’d get the best set of centre backs to change the way they play in the January window anyway, but if they felt that they could do that I'm sure they will.”

For now, Klopp is having to get creative with his team selections, with Jordan Henderson moved back into a defensive berth against Spurs after seeing Fabinho pick up a knock.

Nat Phillips was introduced at half-time to replace Matip, while Rhys Williams has also figured over recent weeks in what remains a steep learning curve for the 19-year-old academy graduate.

Barnes would have preferred to see a teenage talent kept out of the deep end, with the absence of talismanic figures such as Virgil van Dijk making it difficult to blood inexperienced youngsters.

The Reds legend added: “When Virgil van Dijk came and played alongside centre-backs like Joe Gomez or Dejan Lovren, he calmed them down.

“No matter how they performed without him, with Van Dijk they showed their true value. It’s the same with Rhys Williams - I'm sure if Van Dijk was playing alongside him, he would have been much calmer against Manchester United [in a 3-2 FA Cup defeat], which would have helped the situation.

“However, for Rhys Williams to play alongside a midfield player who’s not a centre-back puts him under pressure. Young players coming into the team shouldn’t be under that sort of pressure, but they are, because of the whole current circumstances.

“If you look at Trent Alexander-Arnold when he first came to Liverpool, to a good side, he played his role with confidence. He was not under pressure and he showed his worth.

“You wouldn’t want a young player to come into a team that's not doing particularly well and think they’re going to change that.”

2021-01-29 18:00:04

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