In the Liverpool job for two months now, Jurgen Klopp has suffered an entire plethora of emotions on the touchline having experienced everything from a jubilant win away at Manchester City to a dour 0-0 draw away to FC Sion in the Europa League.
Doing a cracking job of turning Liverpool from a side feeling sorry for itself under Brendan Rodgers to looking upwardly mobile on the whole nowadays, there’s no doubting that the Kop love their new charismatic German manager.
The former Borussia Dortmund boss has actually been something of a laughing stock amongst rival fans this past week in the tavern however after he instructed all of his players to move towards the Kop in celebration at snatching a draw against West Bromwich Albion last Sunday however.
Don’t get us wrong; we’re all for appreciating the loyal armies of fans that support their teams up and down the land but it appeared that Tony Pulis’ long ball tactics had enraged Klopp so much that he momentarily lost it in celebrating mediocrity because no Liverpool fan would’ve been satisfied with a point against Albion at home pre-kick-off.
That said, it depends how you look at it because Klopp is clearly trying to instil a Liverpool against the world kind of mentality and some Reds supporters by the bar are all for that.
Something they might not be for however is the fact that Klopp is set to avoid spending any cash in the January transfer window with the German boss reportedly having not even approached Fenway Sports Group about any new signings as yet.
That said, you can’t always believe what football managers say or allude to so that’s why we’ve today devised a five-man list of players Liverpool simply must attempt to sign in the January transfer window.
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Click on the image below to reveal the five players Liverpool must attempt to sign in January.
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Diego Lopez
At the start of December, we read in Metro that Klopp was ready to replace the error-prone Simon Mignolet with a move for this man – AC Milan stopper Diego Lopez.
Now while Reds fans may crave a swoop for the likes of Stoke City’s Jack Butland as their ideal new number one, we don’t think the Potters are going to be in any mood to sell come January so an option such as Lopez may prove a decent alternative.
Out injured at present with 16-year-old Gianluigi Donnarumma keeping net for the Rossoneri at present, Lopez doesn’t look like he’ll get back in the team anyway with the teenager working wonders so far but the interesting sub plot concerns Mario Balotelli.
According to alternative reports from talkSPORT, they claim Klopp has already given the ok to Liverpool selling Balotelli back to Milan permanently on the premise that they receive Lopez in return. Watch this space…
Lucas Moura
Depending on what source you read right now, some are claiming that Lucas Moura has ruled out a January switch to the Premier League while others are still convinced that he could yet make a move.
Belonging to the latter category, we read in the Daily Star on Wednesday that the Paris Saint-Germain man has been considering the English top flight.
The Brazilian international’s words were: “It is clear that the Premier League is very strong.
“If an opportunity comes later and I no longer have the desire to play here, I would take the decision and I would play for another club.”
To be completely honest, fellow quotes suggest the player is indeed happy at the Parc Des Princes at present but with Angel Di Maria, Ezequiel Lavezzi and Javier Pastore also around, if the player is struggling to get game time in January, you never know.
After all, Lucas belongs in that category of being a marquee kind of addition and Liverpool haven’t signed enough of those in recent years.
Timo Horn
Liverpool fans all read the story in Sky Sports this past week that confirmed Simon Mignolet is officially the Premier League’s most error-prone goalkeeper since 2013/14 and Reds supporters aren’t foolish enough to not know top four qualification rests on small margins.
In his time at Anfield so far, the Belgian international has proved he can be a superb shot stopper on his day but completely erratic the next game week and you can see why so many Liverpool fans are keen on an upgrade.
Sloppy mistakes could cost the Reds a place in the top four this term and somebody who Klopp has been linked with since arriving on Merseyside is FC Koln’s number one Timo Horn.
As reported by The Express back in November, they claimed the highly-rated 22-year-old still only boasts a release clause of £6 million and with the player being the age that he is, this could prove a steal in the next couple of years if signed right now.
Isco
If you look around Europe at players who are not completely settled at their current club at present, few players in this category are as good as Real Madrid’s Isco.
Linked with Arsenal a lot this autumn, Liverpool have also been credited with an interest in the Spanish international too with the player anything but a regular starter under former Reds boss Rafael Benitez at the Bernabeu.
While it must be said that Adam Lallana, Roberto Firmino and Philippe Coutinho can play in the number 10 role for the Reds, Isco has proved like all three of those players that he can play anywhere across the midfield and passing up the opportunity to potentially land a marquee name such as Isco right now could prove an error.
Under the Brendan Rodgers regime, Liverpool didn’t manage to sign enough proven top quality signings given they were often a Europa League team but despite being in the same competition this term, Liverpool have the money and the character of Klopp to believe they can get deals like this done more readily nowadays.
Neven Subotic
The last player on our five-man shortlist is actually the only transfer target spoken about in The Independent‘s story that we mentioned at the outset of the article.
With the story going with the essence that Jurgen Klopp isn’t keen to land any new names this January, content to work with what he already has at his disposal instead, what was written was the fact that he could change this tact if a top quality player such as Neven Subotic became available.
Sounding like Arsenal boss Arsene Wenger in his transfer stance, there’s no doubting that Liverpool could do with defensive reinforcements with Martin Skrtel and Mamadou Sakho inconsistent and Dejan Lovren improving but still not the finished article.
Subotic’s star had fallen somewhat in recent years at Dortmund but he remains a player Jurgen Klopp rates highly and you could see the physical Serbian international not being fazed by moving into a new division such as the Premier League.
