Liverpool CAN sign £52m Barcelona star

Liverpool may be soon looking at a centre-back crisis.

They currently have four senior options on the books - but are reeling from the loss of Giovanni Leoni for the next year.

The £26m signing from Parma suffered a torn ACL on debut against Southampton in the EFL Cup - reducing Arne Slot’s fit options to only three.

But right now Ibrahima Konate’s match fitness is in doubt after he was excused from French international duty.

If he doesn’t recover before Liverpool’s match in the Premier League against Manchester United on October 19 then the top-flight champions will ONLY have Joe Gomez and Virgil van Dijk to choose from.

Liverpool's centre-back shortage

With Gomez tipped for a departure either in January or next summer, Liverpool could do with getting some extra centre-backs through the door before long.

Missing out on Marc Guehi on transfer deadline day looks worse in hindsight but there are other options Slot and Richard Hughes could look at in the next couple of transfer windows.

One such name mentioned has been Ronald Araujo. The Barcelona stopper, 26, is not always first choice at the Spanish champions these days and could well be sacrificed in order to generate more revenues.

The hard-up Catalans are always on the lookout for budgetary savings and Araujo could bring in around €60m if he was sold.

'Maybe something could happen' with Araujo

Football Insider’s Peter O’Rourke does NOT expect the Uruguay international to move on in January but the game may well have changed by next summer depending on Barcelona’s financial outlook.

“I don’t see any move in January for Araujo,” he said.

“It’ll be interesting to see what Barcelona’s financial situation is. Come next summer, we all know how many issues they’ve had over the last couple of seasons, registering players, signing players as well.

“So, if there’s an opportunity there to cash in on them and make a profit on them, then maybe something could happen with Araujo, but it does seem the player himself is very happy.

“At Barcelona, he’s in no rush to leave. He is on the contract until 2031. I think there was a release clause in that deal for around £52m.

“So again, [it was a] relatively cheap fee for such an experienced and top class defender as well. So I’m sure there’ll be clubs who’ll be monitoring the situation.”

Several centre-backs on Reds' radar

Liverpool have also been linked with the likes of Jan Paul van Hecke and Nico Schlotterbeck in recent weeks. There are a number of younger defenders on their radar too including Aaron Bouwman, Youri Baas and Taras Mykhavko.

Araujo given his experience and quality could come in and compete for a first-team spot straight away and also provide assurance if Konate decides to leave on a free.

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