Liverpool look likely to be in the market for a new centre-back over the summer transfer window.
The Reds’ issues in defence have been highlighted over recent weeks. With Arne Slot set to come in, they’ll need to be rectified in the off-season.
It isn’t that the current crop of defenders are particularly bad, they could just do with a little more help. Ibrahima Konate especially has been struggling of late and with Joel Matip ready to leave, Liverpool will be a man down.
Thankfully, all signs point to Liverpool being active in bringing someone in. A number of players appear to be under consideration, including Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi.
With Michael Edwards back and pulling the strings though, Liverpool are also reportedly about to hatch a secret plan in order to land their top target.
Liverpool making Willian Pacho plan
It will be interesting to see which direction Liverpool go in this summer. There are quite a few good-looking options out there in terms of centre-backs.
As journalist Graeme Bailey exclusively told us on Tuesday, Sporting’s Goncalo Inacio is one who shouldn’t be ruled out for the Reds just yet.
But in the build up to the window opening, the most noise has been surrounding Eintracht Frankfurt’s Willian Pacho. The 22-year-old has been claimed to be Liverpool’s priority target.
Echoing that sentiment, German outlet BILD claim that the Reds are willing to think outside of the box in order to get Pacho.
They report that there is a ‘secret’ and ‘exciting’ plan in which Liverpool sign the Ecuadorian a year early.
Desperate not to miss out on Pacho or see his value rise another year, the Reds are said to be keen on paying for the defender before loaning him back to Eintracht for a year.
Should Liverpool action their Pacho plan
We do really like the look of Pacho for Liverpool. His current manager, Dino Topmoller even labelled him as being potentially ‘world class’ [Bundesliga.com]. Having said that, this plan would make absolutely no sense at all.
It’s pretty clear that Liverpool need a new centre-back as soon as possible. Ideally they even should have signed one last year.
To lose Matip and then wait yet another 12 months to bring in someone new would be borderline crazy from the Reds.
The only scenario in which this would be acceptable is if Sepp van den Berg comes back to Liverpool and is given a chance. In reality, that might actually happen.
With Pacho a left-footed centre-back, he’s perhaps being earmarked to take over from Virgil van Dijk. Could the idea be to get Van den Berg involved as an extra body, let Van Dijk see out his contract before bringing Pacho back from Eintracht in 2025? With Edwards, you just never know.
