'Won’t sign him in January': Fabrizio Romano makes big claim about 'extraordinary' ace Reds made a serious approach for

Fabrizio Romano has denied reports suggesting that Denis Zakaria might join Liverpool this month for around €7m (£5.87m), labelling a move to the Premier League 'unlikely'.

The Reds have managed to avoid disaster without AFCON absentees and injured players as well as Covid cases and so January can be declared a successful month for Liverpool so far.

However, it appears as though Liverpool are no longer trying to sign Zakaria this month.

Liverpool made a serious approach for Zakaria but a move 'seems unlikely'

According to a report from ESPN from last week, Liverpool made a serious approach to sign the Swiss midfielder.

However, Fabrizio Romano reports "Liverpool won't sign" the 25-year-old this month and a move to the Premier League looks "unlikely."

He said: "FC Bayern and B. Dortmund are pushing. Man United had talks with agents but have not submitted any proposal, Liverpool won’t sign him in January.

"Premier League move seems unlikely. Juventus want him but Borussia ask for €7m to sell Zakaria in Jan."

Praise for Zakaria from Lothar Matthaus, Granit Xhaka and Marco Rose

As one of the most accomplished German footballers of all time, you would expect Matthaus to recognize a good footballer when he sees him.

Speaking of Zakaria, Matthaus said: “I am delighted that Gladbach has found another pearl. At his age, I got my first strip for Borussia. He reminded me of Toni Kroos at that age.”

Xhaka said in 2019: “The development is extraordinary. Having Denis in the national team next to me makes me feel better! But he has to keep up – now comes a very crucial phase for him.“

Borussia Monchengladbach manager Marco Rose previously said: “He is a very complete football player who still has a lot of development potential.

“He has incredible dynamics, an understanding of the game and is not at the end of his development yet.”

Zakaria ticks all of the boxes for Liverpool and should be prioritised

Not only is the Switzerland international very tall at 6ft2 but he's also fast, powerful while surprisingly agile for a man of his build and he would be a very welcome addition to the Liverpool midfield.

The Reds have lacked control in the middle of the park whenever Thiago Alcantara has been unavailable this season but just as worrying has been the lack of protection the midfield offers the back four.

Virgil van Dijk and Joel Matip are already exposed by Jurgen Klopp's tactical system which requires Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andrew Robertson to bomb forward in support of attacking moves.

This paid dividends on Sunday as Robbo got a brace of assists while Trent's 70-yard pass to Diogo Jota forced the error from Crystal Palace goalkeeper Vincent Guaita which led to Fabinho scoring a penalty to make it 3-1 which wrapped up the win.

However, Palace were allowed to run at the back four with ease as Jordan Henderson and Curtis Jones offered very little protection for their defensive teammates and it was a game in which Georginio Wijnaldum could have contributed much.

The Dutchman was tasked with providing defensive support to Fabinho while using his press resistance and agility to keep the ball and recycle it to Trent and Robertson which largely worked to great effect.

However, he still needs to be replaced after being allowed to leave the club without anyone coming in to fill his shoes although I believe Zakaria could do it quite well with his blend of defensive awareness and strong, willful defending in 1v1 situations and powerful counter-attacking runs.

He's got all the attributes you would want from a dominant no.8. Height, strength, strong technical ability, awareness, composure, press resistance and he also offers an attacking threat from set-pieces.

Liverpool must have a better option in the summer to be passing up on the chance to sign Zakaria for just €7m (£5.87m).