The answer to Liverpool’s midfield nightmare could come in the form of Denis Zakaria as the Reds have reportedly enquired about signing him from Borussia Monchengladbach.
It’s embarrassing that we’re in this position again as Liverpool had the cautionary tale last season at centre back.
In the summer leading up to last season, they failed to replace Dejan Lovren who joined Zenit St. Petersburg and the club subsequently went through a massive injury crisis.
While Jurgen Klopp isn’t contending with ACL, patellar tendon and serious ankle injuries to key centre backs, the likes of Naby Keita, Thiago and Curtis Jones have battled with injury while COVID-19 has disrupted the engine room.
Keita is now at AFCON for the month of January as well and so Jurgen Klopp is going to be in a lot of trouble if Thiago doesn’t return from the sidelines soon as Henderson already looks asleep on his feet.
According to Jonathan Shrager, Liverpool, Manchester United and Bayern Munich have all made enquiries to Borussia Monchengladbach about the ‘possibility of signing Denis Zakaria in January’.
A report from Sport Bild in mid-December claimed that Gladbach would be willing to sell for around £6m which would be an absolute bargain for the 25-year-old even if he is free to leave the club in 6 months.
Liverpool are in desperate need for a new midfielder and paying that £6m premium lets the club get him in early and will let them stop the rot and make sure that when Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane return from AFCON, they can fight for the Premier League title and not top four.
If Chelsea beat Manchester City next weekend, there will be a small glimmer of hope in the title race for both sides and so Liverpool need to be ready to capitalise on any cracks that might appear.
Zakaria is the perfect player to replace Wijnaldum. He’s incredibly press resistant so would be able to withstand the high pressure of playing in the Premier League and would be able to offer the Liverpool back four some protection.
He’s wonderful at carrying the ball out from the back while is also more than capable of playing one or two touch football if need be.
He’s also 6ft3 so would beef up the midfield considerably and after some spineless defensive displays this season, it would be great to get a physically imposing player into the side.
