KopTalk.com Forums Football Liverpool FC Forum Next season

Yes on paper they are better than our bench but without that mental strength they wouldn't get on ours. Werner would have been perfect as you say.

But as it stands we have enough to go again for one season. If we were to upgrade Lovren with Koulibaly that would be massive. I think we would agree that it's his age and lack of resale value that bucks the trend of our transfer dealings since Klopp arrived.

Then again I recall Man United taking a punt on Van Persie for £25m and he stayed fit that season for the first time in his life and delivered the title. Turned out to be a cheap fix.

If we are to build on defence as the way to defend our title Koulibaly could be just the signing needed. It opens up other areas. Gomez could play LB if needed. TAA could play midfield and eventually succeed Henderson, Williams could play that TAA role.

It sounds implausible to make such a signing but Lovren out Koulibaly in would be massive at a time when other teams are not strengthening defence. Chelsea are building an attacking force but will be fragile at the back. They will be like our team under Brendan.

Also if we look back to what City did when Pep first arrived he looked at their defence and after one season tore it apart and spent heavily. The result was 100 points the next season and 98 points the season after.

We replaced when we could. VVD and Alisson came in. Koulibaly would be a luxury but could be the signing we need to dominate the next two or three seasons. The ability to win games is one thing but strengthening that defence even further would send out another huge signal.

Koulibaly going to City would seriously strengthen their defence to the Times when they had Kompany. It would certainly help them close the gap to us. If we got him I cannot see us being seriously challenged for a couple of seasons. By which time Pep will be gone.

Good points on defence, strong defences win leagues, looks at us since we signed VvD & Alisson, we were leaking goals before they arrived, lots of exciting 4-3 wins etc, but lots more points dropped from winning positions, similar to how we did under Rogers. Klopp fixed that by spending big in the areas he identified he needed world class players and it has paid off hugely.

As you say, you just look at City to see what happens if you have a dodgy defense, they are going to finish 25 points lower than they did last season, a huge drop, as they lost LaPorte for large parts of the season and Kompany left, that's ever started to make Ederson look dodgy in goal, there is a whole nervousness around the team.

I would love us to get Koulibaly, that would sort our CB position for the next 3 years with VvD, but if Gomez keeps fit, he could do the same job, that's a big if with his past injuries, but with a limited budget, I would prefer us to buy a decent forward, as our defence looks very solid.

Koulibaly is less than 3 weeks older than Van Dijk. He just turned 29 on 20th June - VVD will be 29 on 8th July. Both have at least another 4/5 years at the top unless injuries curtail them.

We will be getting rid of more players off the payroll soon in Lovren, Lallana, Shaqiri and some of the loaned out players like Grujic and Karius, there's really no reason not to add some quality like Koulibaly considering there'll be room for him. Gomez and Matip have a decidely dodgy injury history and considering Fabinho for an emergency CB role should not even come into the equation. Fabinho is probably one of the best current DM's in world football, moving him elsewhere would be ridiculous.

We could go another season with the attack we have...remember Ox was out for a long time so would be the fill in for Shaqiri going. Minamino is only going to get better and Origi is effective when brought on as a sub - all 3 will compliment our current trident.

As it stands when Lovren goes we really only have 3 CB's, the kids in that position are not ready.