Former Liverpool player John Barnes believes Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly is the only player the Reds should be looking to buy in January. Nat Phillips played alongside Fabinho in the centre of Jurgen Klopp’s defence in their 1-1 draw with Brighton on Saturday. Barnes thinks Liverpool should refrain from making any new signings in January to cover those injuries unless it’s Koulibaly. “If Koulibaly comes, he’s a player that could play alongside Van Dijk when he returns so it would be easy to talk Koulibaly into joining Liverpool, unlike some other top players because he’s a person that if he comes would go straight into the first team and play every match,” Barnes said. “Aside from Koulibaly, I don’t think there’s anyone out there that Liverpool would look to get in January. If Liverpool are unable to get anyone to improve the first team then why sign a new player? “January is not always the best time to buy because all of the top players you want to come into your team are going to be in the Champions League still so it might be hard to convince them to come if they’re not going to be playing every week. "If Liverpool are desperate and need somebody, they’ll get them in. But I don’t think Jurgen Klopp is a particular fan of buying in January, obviously, the situation determines what happens come January if they’re top and not conceding too many goals maybe they don’t need to do that. In January you can spend a lot of money and not necessarily improve the squad.” On whether Liverpool could manage without January signings, Barnes said: “Other teams will have players that will get injured, not just Liverpool players. If it is just Liverpool players getting injured and not Manchester City, Chelsea and Tottenham players then it’s going to be a factor in the title race. I don’t think Liverpool will be hit harder than anybody else.”
Source: football356/ *Join us on Telegram!