Liverpool transfers: After Alexander Isak and Marc Guehi, Arne Slot's team to bid for young defender

Once the Alexander Isak saga comes to an end, Liverpool is set to turn its focus to signing Crystal Palace centre-back Marc Guehi. Arne Slot's team could still not be done and may still splash more money into the market, with scouts having identified three young defenders, reports said.

 

Liverpool is looking to ensure they have assembled a line-up that could make it a habit to win trophies every season in the years to come, and fresh recruits to the defensive department are a must to achieve this feat. While Ibrahima Konate appears to be an able successor to Virgil Van Dijk, the club still needs to surround him with talented teammates. Thus, the Reds are tracking Parma's Giovanni Leoni, Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez and Wolfsburg's Konstantinos Koulierakis. While Leoni is 18, Ordonez and Koulierakis are 21 years of age.

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Clearly, Liverpool are not going to sign all three. But sporting director Richard Hughes is hell-bent on signing at least one of the three, if not two this summer, as he wants to ensure Konate has capable deputies for the second half of the decade. One of the three will be brought in no matter what happens to the Guehi deal, as the club is treating it as a separate operation altogether, TeamTalk said in a report.

 

However, an offer for either of the three is a long way from happening as the club is yet to analyse exactly how much each of them is worth and whom to ditch, the report added.

 

While 18-year-old Leoni will need some time before becoming a Premier League ace, both Koulierakis and Ordonez have enough experience to swim among the big fish already. Ecuador international Ordonez is said to be the best of the three as things stand due to his Champions League experience and regular game time with Club Brugge.

 

And seven-times capped Ordonez arguably looks the best of the bunch, with the star excelling in the Champions League last season and making himself a regular fixture in the Club Brugge side over the last two seasons. Koulierakis is known for his strong physicality and technical ability, including ball retention. 6ft-5' Leoni is good in the air and fast, apart from his speed and agility.

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Premier League champions Liverpool have spent close to £300 million this summer with the likes of Florian Wirtz, Hugo Ekitike, Milos Kerkez, and Jeremie Frimpong arriving at Anfield. While it is already a British record for a single transfer window, the rumoured arrival of Isak and Guehi could further inflate the sum they have spent on squad building.

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