In Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool have the best centre-back on the planet.
The newly-crowned Premier League champions also have Joe Gomez and Joel Matip, who are also amongst the top 20 defenders in the world.
The problem is, the pair are extremely injury-prone, with Matip now set to miss the rest of the current season.
The current fourth choice is the much-maligned Dejan Lovren.
As far as fourth choice central defenders go, Lovren is one of the best in England.
But he is by no means good enough to play regular minutes for a club with aspirations like Liverpool. He never has been, he never will be.
This is why the injury woes of Matip and Gomez are worrying.
Lovren has played in ten of Liverpool’s Premier League fixtures this season, giving horror shows against both Watford and Everton. He is sure to play some more games now that Matip is out.
If a fourth choice centre-back is going to play 10+ league games a season for Liverpool, he needs to be a lot more competent than Dejan Lovren.
The majority of fans would be happy to let the Croatian leave this summer. In fact, he wanted to leave himself last year, according to The Athletic.
It would be best for all parties for the 30-year-old to leave in the next window.
This means that he will need to be replaced.
Liverpool will not spend huge money this summer. If they do, they will put the funds into other, more important areas.
So the likes of Kalidou Koulibaly are incredibly unlikely to sign.
There are three categories of players that Liverpool could target – experienced free agents, young prospects or decent Premier League-quality players.
Here, we will take a look at some potential names that Liverpool could go for to replace Dejan Lovren.
Experienced free agents
One thing that Lovren does bring to Liverpool is experience.
Jurgen Klopp may want to sign an older player in order to ensure that Liverpool do not lose anything in this area.
Another point to note is that the likes of van Dijk and Harry Maguire have proved that centre-backs are now valued extremely highly by big clubs.
So perhaps it would make sense for Liverpool to have a look at a few experienced players who would cost absolutely nothing.
There are two noteworthy names in this category – Jan Vertonghen and Thiago Silva.
They are set to leave their clubs (Tottenham and PSG respectively) this summer.
Silva is the older of the pair, at 35. This, of course, means that his next club will not get many years from him.
But he could be the idea man to play for two seasons until he ages out and can be replaced by some academy stars.
Despite his age, Silva was still playing regularly, and playing well, for PSG before the Ligue 1 season was cancelled.
Vertonghen is two years younger, but his game time has dropped off considerably this season.
He seems to be declining at a much quicker rate than Silva.
While both have been among the world’s best defenders in the last decade, neither has ever won a Premier League of Champions League.
Maybe they would sacrifice regular minutes in order to get their hands on some silverware.
Promising young guns
Yes, Liverpool may miss Lovren’s experience.
But both van Dijk and Matip are 28 and Gomez now has almost five years of Premier League experience. So maybe targeting a younger centre-back might make more sense.
A slight problem is that the world’s finest young defenders will be very expensive. So the club would have to look for some hidden gems.
Ben White is certainly one that the club would have looked at before the financial crisis hit. But his form and homegrown status means that he won’t come cheap.
PSG and RB Leipzig have a wealth of young options in the position, so maybe some of their players could fancy a change. Yet they will not sell the likes of Abdou Diallo or Ibrahima Konate for below market value.
Bundesliga duo Nico Elvedi and Dayot Upamecano are both entering the final year of their contract but would expect regular game time if they moved clubs this year.
Ben Godfrey could be available below market value if Norwich go down, while Malang Sarr is available for free this summer and could be worth a gamble.
The likes of Mohamed Simakan of Strasbourg and Axel Disasi of Reims could be interesting options.
They have been two of Europe’s outstanding young defenders this season, and are also both capable of playing at fullback.
Their mid-table French sides would surely sell if the price is right.
The club does have Ki-Jana Hoever and Sepp van den Berg on their books, who the hierarchy clearly have big plans for.
But both are only 18, which is probably too young to be trusted to play 10+ games a season at centre-back.
Premier League quality
The final category that Liverpool may look at when signing a fourth choice centre-back is a proven Premier League regular.
Many fans would love to see Conor Coady back at his boyhood club and he would certainly be the right type of character.
However, Coady has only played at centre-back in the middle of a back three. This means that he has two players beside him to do a lot of the defensive work.
He is probably better suited to play in defensive-midfield than he is to playing at the heart of a back four.
Sheffield United have been one of the Premier League’s best defensive teams this season, and they have two players that could be considered – John Egan and Scouser Jack O’Connell.
Neither have the pace of a van Dijk or Gomez, but neither does Lovren or former Red Ragnar Klavan, who Klopp also signed as a fourth choice.
They are both solid defenders who do not commit too many errors. The pair are also intelligent and good communicators.
They would not make fans uneasy when they are thrown into the team, which is what Lovren does.
Fabian Schar, Christian Kabasele and Jan Bednarek are all solid, Premier League standard defenders who could also be looked at.
None of these names are very exciting, but fourth choice centre-backs rarely are.
While there are many important qualities needed, the key one is someone that allows fans to relax while he is playing.
They do not need to be the fastest nor the best on the ball. They just need to be consistent and relatively infallible.
Unfortunately, Dejan Lovren is neither.