Jurgen Klopp has insisted Liverpool will not buy a new centre-back in January, despite recent injury woes in defence.
Liverpool’s defensive ranks were further limited on Monday night as Dejan Lovren was forced off the pitch due to a hamstring injury in the opening five minutes of the Reds’ 2-1 FA Cup defeat to Wolves.
The Reds boss has already been dealing without the services of Joe Gomez (ankle) and Joel Matip (collarbone) since the start of December.
The duo’s absence has not been felt all that much by the Reds, with Lovren returning from injury at the right time. However, his most recent knock puts Liverpool in a spot of bother.
Virgil van Dijk is the only fit senior centre-back available to the Reds boss, who has admitted he needs to get ‘creative’ in order to find solutions to his defensive problems.
With Gomez and Matip expected back in training in the next 10 days, Klopp shut down suggestions that he would turn to the January transfer window for reinforcements.
“The only country that asks a question like this is England. Everything is sorted with buying players,” he said, visibly angry in response to whether he has to buy a defender this month.
“We have four centre-halves. Three, maybe, two-and-a-half are injured so we’ll have to try and come through in the moment.
“We need them back but you cannot buy a fifth centre-half and say ‘so you play two weeks and after that the others come in’”.
It is not yet known how long Lovren is out for, however a hamstring injury usually means anywhere up to a month on the sidelines.
Dejan Lovren has remained fit for 6 consecutive games just twice during his time at Liverpool.
Tonight's clash against Wolves was his 7th consecutive game, only for him to come off injured in the opening five minutes… 🤨
— LFCGlobe.co.uk (@LFCGlobeUK) January 7, 2019
Should neither Gomez or Matip return in time for Liverpool’s trip to Brighton this weekend, Klopp could once again go with Fabinho as a central defender.
The Brazilian dropped in to the back-line against Wolves and is the prime candidate, as of now, to partner van Dijk at the Amex Stadium.
