How Liverpool are feeling about signing €50m centre-back

Liverpool have left themselves with problems to solve at centre-back. The club were content to sell Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen over the summer for around £30m, bringing in Giovanni Leoni as a replacement.

The Premier League title holders suffered a bitter injury blow however when the 18-year-old Italian tore an ACL on debut. He will be out for the season - meaning Arne Slot has only got three central defenders currently available.

Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate are the Reds’ options in the heart of defence - and there are question marks against their futures too.

Van Dijk is out of contract in 2027 and will soon need a permanent successor while Gomez could leave in January or else summer 2026 for AC Milan.

Konate meanwhile is out of contract at the end of the season - and if no deal is agreed then he will be leaving for free.

Liverpool linked with several centre-backs

That’s why links to centre-backs make sense. We’ve seen Marc Guehi, Ronald Araujo and Nico Schlotterbeck associated with Anfield moves in recent weeks.

And centre-backs of a younger profile - including Aaron Bouwman, Youri Baas and Taras Mykhavko have also been mentioned.

One more named linked over the past year or so has been Joel Ordonez. The 21-year-old currently stars for Club Brugge in the Belgian league as well as the Champions League.

He came through at Independiente del Valle in his native Ecuador - the same club that produced Piero Hincapie and Moises Caicedo.

He inked a new deal with Brugge last month - extending his terms until 2029 - and that could be a sign that the Belgian giants are considering a big-money sale with Ordonez valued at €50m.

LFC won't move for Joel Ordonez

It won’t be Liverpool who acquire the Ecuador international’s services however - as it looks like the Reds are looking for a player of a more senior profile.

That’s according to a new report in Caught Offside, which suggests sporting director Richard Hughes wants a plug-and-play solution over a project centre-back.

“Ordonez is someone has been on the radar of Liverpool in the past, but it now seems their focus is on other targets,” the report reads.

“For the time being, though, it surely makes the most sense to bring in someone who can definitely make an impact straight away, hence the pursuit of someone like Marc Guehi over the summer.”

Liverpool have also been linked with Premier League stars like Jan Paul van Hecke, Nathan Collins and Jarrad Branthwaite.

It appears given the scale of their issues at the heart of defence than centre-back will be the next area of the pitch given priority in the transfer market.

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