Liverpool make massive offer to sign AMAZING defender in January

Slowly, without much serious fanfare, centre-back has become a problem for Liverpool.

Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate are outstanding starters - perhaps the best partnership in the world so far this season - but injuries at the position have demonstrated how paper-thin the Reds are at the position.

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Joe Gomez filled in admirably when Konate went down with a knee injury in December, but his own hamstring issue meant that Jarell Quansah was next up.

Quansah, who was hooked at half-time on the first day of the season and has been lacklustre since, left midweek’s League Cup semi-final against Tottenham early with an illness.

This left defensive midfielder Wataru Endo to cover the position - which he did quite well.

But the possibility of only two healthy senior centre-backs is enough to scare any management team. And, according to a new report, Liverpool have already been active on that front.

Liverpool look to fill centre-back hole

Bologna sports site 1000 Cuori Rossoblu are reporting that Liverpool made a massive and ambitious approach for centre-back Sam Beukema but that the Reds' offer to sign the player was rejected.

“His qualities have also been noticed abroad, so much so that Liverpool, probably the strongest team at the moment, made an attempt to sign him back in January.” reads the report.

“After having tried to sign [Beukema] at Feyenoord, [Slot] has now come back.” It continues.

“The response from the Rossoblu management was clear: in January the big shots are not moving from Casteldebole.”

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This could have been a huge coup for the Reds if they had managed to pull it off. Beukema has been touted as one of the best defenders in Europe over the past season, being essential to Bologna’s 5th placed finish and qualification for the Champions League.

As a right-sided centre-back, Beukema would have been an immediate rotation piece with Konate to avoid a heavy workload and chance of re-injury. It would have provided seriously solid depth for Liverpool to charge into all four competitions that they remain in at time of writing.

Regardless, it shows intent from the club behind the scenes. This is exactly the type of move they need to make if they want to avoid disaster this season.

Hopefully something similar gets over the line before the month is out.

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