Marc Gu\u00e9hi\u2019s transfer to Manchester City has left Liverpool short at centre back after the club chose not to match a \u00a320 million offer for the England international, who would have been out of contract this summer. With Giovanni Leoni out for the season the Reds are down to three senior centre-back options: 34-year-old Virgil van Dijk, the injury-prone Joe Gomez and the unconvincing Ibrahima Konat\u00e9, whose contract expires this summer. Liverpool are an injury or two away from crisis.<\/p>\n
That reality has focused attention on potential replacements, either in the January window or next summer. Nico Schlotterbeck, a 26-year-old left-footed defender, is presented as one realistic target. The German has been integral to Borussia Dortmund\u2019s run to the 2023\u201324 Champions League final and is praised for his defensive awareness, aerial presence and distribution. With his contract running until 2027 he is expected to depart at the end of the current campaign and the Premier League is suggested as a likely destination.<\/p>\n
Castello Lukeba is another left-footed option. The 23-year-old has starred for RB Leipzig over the past two-and-a-half seasons, combining pace and defensive intelligence, and made his senior France debut in 2023. Leipzig\u2019s relationship with Liverpool after deals for Ibrahima Konat\u00e9 and Dominik Szoboszlai could aid any approach, but his \u00a370 million ($94 million) release clause may be prohibitive.<\/p>\n
Marcos Senesi would represent an opportunistic, low-cost solution to squad depth issues. The 28-year-old has impressed in a Bournemouth defence that was significantly altered last summer and could be available on a free transfer at the end of the season if he does not sign a new deal with the Cherries.<\/p>\n
Younger, cheaper candidates include Joel Ord\u00f3\u00f1ez. The 21-year-old product of the Independiente del Valle academy has become an essential player for Club Brugge and is a reported Liverpool target; the 14-cap Ecuador international is certain to feature at the 2026 World Cup.<\/p>\n
Longer-shot and higher-risk options noted are Barcelona\u2019s Ronald Ara\u00fajo, whose future is described as uncertain despite a contract extension last January, and Brighton\u2019s Jan Paul van Hecke, a 25-year-old with Premier League experience who has started alongside Van Dijk for the Netherlands. Each presents different costs and risks Liverpool must weigh as they seek reinforcements.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Liverpool must rebuild at centre back after Gu\u00e9hi’s move to Man City; seven realistic options listed<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":6171,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[175,1163],"tags":[1393,1047],"class_list":["post-6172","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-liverpool","category-transfers","tag-centre-back","tag-champions-league"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=6172"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/6172\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/6171"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=6172"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=6172"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.weplayfpl.com\/news-articles\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=6172"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}