Liverpool have got to be in the running for £66m defender, after Fabrizio Romano update today

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Liverpool continue to be linked with a plethora of defenders as they ponder how best to cope with Joel Matip’s injury.

Even if he extends his stay at Anfield into next season, Matip’s days at Anfield look set to be numbered. Jurgen Klopp has surely got to bring in a new, younger defender to plug the significant hole the 32-year-old will leave.

To that end, Sporting’s Ousmane Diomande appears to be the latest name in Liverpool’s targets. However, an update from journalist Fabrizio Romano today should see them change tact.

Writing in his Daily Briefing, Romano gave a very interesting take on the future of Bayern Munich centre-back Matthijs de Ligt.

“For sure there will be a chance for Matthijs de Ligt to leave in the summer because the situation remains quite open,” the transfer expert reports. “But it’s too early to mention concrete clubs.”

Liverpool need a centre-back. De Ligt looks likely to be get-able at the right price. What’s there to even consider. The 24-year-old should be the Reds’ Matip successor.

De Ligt heading for Bayern exit

There is some intrigue surrounding exactly why De Ligt would be available this summer. He only signed for Bayern 18 months ago and cost them a princely £66m.

Since then, he’s had a couple of injury issues, but the Netherlands international has still played a good amount. Not 25 until August, he should be a player Thomas Tuchel is building around.

But for whatever reason, De Ligt seemingly isn’t part of Tuchel’s best XI this season. To be fair, he does have stiff competition. Dayot Upamecano has been hailed as the second coming by the French press, while Kim Min-Jae is a proper defender, too.

Having said that though, we’d still have De Ligt in there.

Anyway, potentially better for us. The Dutchman has previously been claimed to have been a ‘dream’ signing for Liverpool. As he does for his national team, the Reds were said to be keen on partnering De Ligt with Virgil van Dijk.

With Bayern swooping in, that opportunity looked to have gone. Given today’s news though, the stars could yet align.

The problem could potentially lie in the fact that there is real competition for places at Liverpool as well. Ibrahima Konate is the main man where that is concerned, while Jarell Quansah is developing at a heck of a rate. Joe Gomez shouldn’t be forgotten about either.

But with Konate’s injury history in particular, it might just benefit the Reds to add another quality option in there. They could go for potential in someone like Diomande – who has a lot of it. Or, they could bring in a known quantity who’s operated at the top level for years already.

We’d pick the latter, but let’s see if Liverpool get involved.