Door OPEN for Liverpool to sign special defender right now

Liverpool need to sign a defender in the January window.

This was made abundantly clear when Conor Bradley being ruled out for the rest of the season was confirmed by the club.

Right now, Arne Slot has just three senior centre-back options, one of them in Joe Gomez is very injury prone and he will now be tasked with playing as a right-back, too considering the Dutchman has not really trusted Jeremie Frimpong to play as a right-back in Bradley's absence.

Slot could play Andy Robertson or Wataru Endo as a centre-back, although the latter is injured for now.

So, the club has really limited options and that is why they have to enter the market.

Obviously, they should not just sign anyone. We know that doesn't quite work. Look what happened to Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak.

But that was because the club left it very late to make a move.

Right now, it's still early days in the transfer window which means Liverpool could still make their move and don't have to panic buy.

Of course, there's going to be a limited number of players available but one who the door is definitely open for is Ousmane Diao.

There's been reports that the club has been sending scouts over to FC Midtjylland to watch their games.

Anfield Watch understands the player Liverpool are keeping a close eye on is Ousmane Diao.

At 21-years-old he represents the perfect profile. Despite his young age, Diao already have over 100 senior appearances under his belt. He's played over 50 games for Midtjylland and has proved to be a threat from set-pieces scoring 10 goals during his time with the club so far.

On the ball, he's a composed defender. He can hit it long and make cross-field switches that help progress his side quickly into advantageous positions. His accuracy when finding teammates with long passes is also very good.

What makes him an ideal profile is that he can play as a right-back as well and has done so on a few occasions for his club.

Now, Midtjylland are a club who know their place in the football food chain. If an offer comes in for Diao from someone like Liverpool, they are not going to stand in his way, even in January.

So the door is always open for Liverpool to make a move.

He's only 21-years-old and he is an extremely strong defender as well. He's very good in his duels (won 70% in his senior career), sticks tight to his opponents and is very good at taking the ball from them using his upper body strength and his long legs to pry the ball away from their feet.

Not to mention, Diao is incredibly fast which makes him exemplary at defending the channels, making recovery runs and being the first to react to danger.

His profile is one that would really suit Liverpool. Short-term he could come in and be that fourth centre-back and back-up right-back option but long-term he has everything to replace Gomez, when he decides to depart the club.

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