It was an exhilarating night of football at Anfield on Wednesday evening as Liverpool and Arsenal played out an incredible 3-3 draw in the Premier League with Joe Allen’s equaliser snatching a point for the Reds late on.
We don’t know what it is about Reds versus Gunners fixtures here in the Football Transfer Tavern but it usually seems to go goal crazy and considering we saw another 3-3 between Newcastle United and Manchester United just a day earlier, the neutrals have certainly been spoilt this past week.
Just over half way through the January transfer window, Liverpool have made two purchases so far although both of them are of the uninspiring variety with Marko Grujic one for the future having been loaned back to Red Star Belgrade and Steven Caulker having been bought in on loan simply to boost defensive numbers in the Reds’ injury crisis.
Since arriving in England, Jurgen Klopp hasn’t really ever claimed that he was going to spend big in January, seemingly content to see where the current crop take him ahead of feasibly revamping the squad with his own signings in the summer.
That could be a high risk strategy however with Liverpool’s point against Arsenal not really getting the club anywhere fast with the Reds still down in ninth although they were only five points off fourth-placed Tottenham after gameweek 21.
Being the big club that they are, despite not bringing in a top quality name so far, Liverpool have been linked to their fair share of talents but today here in the tavern, we’ve devised a list of five Reds rumours that we definitely think can be ruled out this month.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five Liverpool January transfer rumours that can be ruled out.
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Mario Gotze
The Express reported in the week that Mario Gotze could be hinting at a Bayern Munich departure with sporting director Matthias Sammer admitting in the week that the player intends to sit down in the coming months to discuss his future.
The cold hard truth in the matter is that the man who delivered the World Cup for Germany isn’t an indispensable member of this Bayern Munich team and looks as if his development would best be served elsewhere as the main man.
While a transfer looks more than feasible for the summer, it will surely not be possible this month for expectant Reds fans however with Sammer also having commented that: “I said it was madness when there were rumours about a transfer in January, whereas Mario was talking about the end of the season.”
Alexandre Pato
Another Reds January transfer rumour that you can rule out as of this second is a swoop for former golden boy of Brazilian football Alexandre Pato.
News of the Reds’ lack of interest in the Corinthians forward has come straight from the horses mouth in Jurgen Klopp who despite not usually talking about transfer speculation, categorically ruled out a move for the striker this past week.
The German manager claimed: “My private advice to you is don’t follow the Pato path any longer.”
Sounds pretty concrete enough to us so it appears Klopp is content to continue biding his time with Roberto Firmino and Christian Benteke, oh and Daniel Sturridge when his injury troubles finally give him a day off!
Neven Subotic
Right after Jurgen Klopp was appointed Liverpool boss, a lot of the transfer focus immediately shifted onto two Borussia Dortmund players in particular.
They were Ilkay Gundogan and this man Neven Subotic but the latest from the Liverpool Echo is that Borussia Dortmund have told the Reds and any other interested party that their Serbian international centre back is going nowhere this month.
Almost the German Everton in usually doing well to keep hold of their star players for as long as possible before eventually giving in to the bigger powers of football, we’ve already seen that Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang is staying at Signal Iduna Park this January and it appears Subotic is going nowhere also.
It may now prove the case that Steven Caulker is the only defensive addition on Merseyside this January and a few of our Reds supporters can’t help feel a little underwhelmed by that.
That said, when the improving Dejan Lovren returns, not to mention Martin Skrtel, perhaps the defensive dilemma can be put on ice again until the summer.
Marc-Andre ter Stegen
Liverpool’s troubles in the goalkeeping department are well documented with both Adam Bogdan and Simon Mignolet having considered basically the same goal from two corners against Exeter City and Arsenal of late.
Both error prone no matter which way you try to paint it, the goalkeeping department is certainly in need of an upgrade for Liverpool to give themselves the best chance of being competitive long-term and one man they’ve reportedly been looking at is Barcelona’s Marc-Andre ter Stegen to improve that.
However, Metro produced a story that was akin to our very thoughts back on January 6th where they claimed a transfer for the German won’t be happening this month.
ter Stegen isn’t indispensable at the Camp Nou with Claudio Bravo the first choice for league games but we can’t see the Spanish giants giving up one of their squad members at the mid-point of the season that is already pencilled in for duty in the cup competitions.
A transfer would be much more possible in the summer if Liverpool come in with the £20 million the Catalan side are reportedly after.
Antonio Candreva
Back on January 2nd, Metro proceeded with a story that claimed Liverpool were set to revive their interest in Lazio’s Italian international winger Antonio Candreva.
Not the full force he once was at the Stadio Olimpico, Candreva doesn’t often last the full 90 minutes in the Italian capital any more and is reportedly available for sale if the Rome giants receive a £25 million fee this January.
But we just can’t see it.
With Candreva 28-years-old, despite being in his pomp, Fenway Sports Group have usually moved to sign younger players for fees such as that.
Add into the equation that Felipe Anderson to Manchester United looks like more of a possibility this month and surely Lazio wouldn’t sanction the departures of both of their top quality wingers in the same window?
