Liverpool were readying move for £70m former Chelsea defender in case Virgil van Dijk left this summer

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Liverpool have a busy summer transfer window on the cards as Arne Slot looks to take his project to the next phase.

Slot has had a remarkable debut season at Anfield, standing on the cusp of winning the Premier League at his first attempt.

Perhaps the most impressive point of the Dutchman’s reign so far is that he’s been doing it all with the Liverpool squad left behind by Jurgen Klopp.

In fairness, that has meant Slot has some top players at his disposal, with captain Virgil van Dijk an embodiment of the quality Liverpool possess.

And despite months of speculation over his future, Van Dijk is set to sign a new contract and stay at Liverpool for another two seasons.

For Slot and sporting director Richard Hughes, that means one less job in the transfer market this summer. However, with clarity only just arriving over whether Van Dijk will be staying at Anfield, it turns out the Reds did have a plan in place for if their captain left this summer.

Liverpool targeted Marc Guehi and Dean Huijsen

It would have been impossible for Liverpool to replace Van Dijk. You could bring a new player in to be an immediate starter, of course, but they would not be at the Dutch defender’s level.

Nevertheless, if Virgil had departed, the Reds would have had to sign someone to try and fill his boots.

And according to BBC Sport, Liverpool’s recruitment team had already ‘begun identifying’ players who could come in and do just that.

They claim the Reds were looking at primarily left footed centre-backs, or at least those who have experience of playing on the left side of a back two.

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The two specifically mentioned are Crystal Palace captain Marc Guehi and Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen, with Liverpool said to be ‘analysing’ the pair.

With news since emerging that Van Dijk is set to stay, it’s claimed that Liverpool’s plan ‘may never now be executed.’

Liverpool avoid Marc Guehi mistake

Liverpool have been linked with Guehi plenty of times over the past two years or more. The 24-year-old is a good Premier League defender and has had success with England.

However, Palace clearly rate him exceptionally highly. A £70m bid was turned down for Guehi as recently as February, when Tottenham tried to poach him at the end of the winter window.

With just one year left on his contract Guehi will surely be cheaper than that this summer, but Palace will likely still demand a big fee.

Replacing Van Dijk at Liverpool next season feels like it would have been an impossible job, and Guehi would probably have given it as good a go as anyone.

But the former Chelsea defender could also have been an incredibly expensive mistake and in our view is not quite up to the standard Liverpool should aim for.

In the meantime David Ornstein has confirmed that Huijsen remains a target for the Reds, and the youngster would like a more natural long-term successor to Van Dijk.