Liverpool will rival AC Milan for Schalke 04 defender Ozan Kabak, according to reports. The Reds will surely look to sign a defender in January.
This comes from Italian outlet SportMediaSet. They claim that AC Milan have their sights on Ozan Kabak but Liverpool will enter the race for January.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=V8tL1LICqnE
Jurgen Klopp, understandably, wants a new defender to cover Virgil van Dijk’s injury. That leads Liverpool to Schalke 04 and Kabak, they say, who would cost around £27m.
Kabak joined Schalke in June 2019 after a very impressive six-month spell with Stuttgart. He’s quickly built a reputation in Germany as one of the best up-and-coming young centre-halves.
This certainly isn’t the first report linking Liverpool with Kabak. The Daily Mail, to name one, claimed this week that the Reds have asked about the player before.
They describe him as a ‘more aggressive [Joel] Matip’ but believe the pricetag put Liverpool off.
What RTK has to say
It’ll be interesting to see how much pricetags put Liverpool off now. They desperately need someone to come in if they’re to compete this season.
That isn’t to say that there isn’t quality already at the club, of course. But the big problem is that they went into this season with only three recognised centre-halves. Fabinho can cover there, of course, but the plan was never that he’d be a regular defender.
That would mean he isn’t playing defensive midfield, leaving the Reds short there. That creates a problem in of itself, then.
The other issue is Matip. He’s struggled for fitness over the last year and Liverpool can’t really rely on him. When he’s injured – as he was against Ajax – Joe Gomez is the only senior centre-half.
Surely, then, Liverpool will try and find the cash to pick someone up in January. And maybe that play is Kabak – they certainly seem to like him.
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