Liverpool January transfer plans won’t be dictated by injuries, says Jurgen Klopp

Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp says injuries will play no role in the club’s January transfer window activity.

The Reds are presently enjoying a stellar Premier League campaign and sit eight points clear atop of the championship.

Five key things to know Liverpool’s busy December fixture list…

• Liverpool are scheduled to play nine games in December.
• These matches in four different competitions, and two continents, are spread across 25 days.
• Aside from taking part in five Premier League games there are four cup matches.
• Two of those will be in this year’s Fifa Club World Cup (semi-final and final or third-place game).
• Because their first game (18 December) clashes with a Carabao Cup tie with Aston Villa (17 December), the Reds will send a U23 squad to Villa Park.

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After 16 matches played, Klopp’s men remain unbeaten in the Premier League. The only points they’ve dropped came away to Manchester United, who held them to a 1-1 draw at Old Trafford in October.

December, which is set to be a busy month, began with back-to-back wins over Merseyside rivals Everton and then Bournemouth. Across both games, Klopp rotated his side in view of the matches coming thick and fast.

The defending European champions have an upcoming Champions League outing against Red Bull Salzburg before navigating league games with a trip to Qatar for the Fifa Club World Cup sandwiched in between.

Klopp is without the services of centre-back Joel Matip at the moment. There are also doubts over the fitness of Dejan Lovren after he was substituted in last Saturday’s win over Bournemouth, which left some speculating if Liverpool will make a signing in January to bolster Klopp’s defensive options.

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“How can you be short of centre-halves when you have four centre-halves plus Fabinho?,” he told reporters when asked if he could dip into the January transfer market.

“Only Fabinho is injured, Matip is injured and Dejan Lovren had a problem, yes. We will not sign a centre-half because of injuries. That is the world outside who thinks we are short and we have to do it. But afterwards, we would have six centre-halves and that wouldn’t make a lot of sense.

“And you need quality. You can’t have just somebody [for the sake of it]. I am somebody, I am tall, not quick, but I look like a centre-half at least. Yes, I am absolutely concerned [about injuries], but Lovren is not injured.

“It was a little bit of cramp, and the right moment to take him off, but it is cool, everybody is fine. We spoke about squad depth, but we had 16 adult players against Everton, 14 adult players against Bournemouth. It’s not that we think we have no clue how to make a squad at the moment.

“How can I tell the boys they are not involved in the squad? We have no problem, there is nobody there I have to explain it to. But yes it is all good, but not perfect.”

Liverpool spent just £1.3 million in the summer’s window on Sepp van den Berg, 17, from PEC Zwolle, in addition to the free transfers of Adrian and Andy Lonergan. This figure could change, however, pending the outcome of a tribunal set to determine the value of 16-year-old Harvey Elliot, who joined after leaving Fulham.