Carragher: Buying a new centre-back must be on agenda in January

JAMIE CARRAGHER insists Liverpool need to sign a new centre-back at least in January, despite bringing in eight new senior players as part of a £450million squad overhaul last summer.

- By THEO SQUIRES

The Reds broke the British transfer record twice to sign Florian Wirtz and Alexander Isak, and also spent significant fees on Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, Jeremie Frimpong, Giorgi Mamardashvili and Giovanni Leoni.

Liverpool also tried to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace, only to see the Eagles block a £35m move for the England international at the 11th hour on transfer deadline day.

The Reds remain interested in the defender, who is out of contract at the end of the season, though it remains to be seen if they will revisit their interest in January.

Liverpool currently only boast three available senior options at centre-back in Virgil van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez after Leoni suffered a season-ending ACL injury on his debut.

But both Konate and Gomez face uncertain futures at the club, with the France international out of contract at the end of the season and the England international tipped for an exit last summer, having attracted interest from the likes of AC Milan and Brighton & Hove Albion, prior to the collapse of Guehi's own transfer.