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Liverpool are in the market for a new centre-back in the summer transfer window and Castello Lukeba could be the answer.
It's a position that Liverpool require bolstering.
With Jarell Quansah departing for Bayer Leverkusen, the Reds are lacking option in central defence. And, in truth, they are lacking long-term stability.
There’s scant denying that Arne Slot does not have quality in that area of his squad. Far from it. Liverpool have arguably the best centre-back in the world that is Virgil van Dijk. The Anfield captain was immense on the way to the Reds claiming the Premier League title. But Liverpool will know van Dijk will not be around forever. While he signed a new two-year deal in January, the Netherlands international is now aged 34. A succession plan will have to be laid out sooner rather than later.
Still, van Dijk heads into Liverpool's title defence with Ibrahima Konate as his chief partner. The pair forged a formidable relationship last season, with Slot's men conceding only 41 goals.
But Konate's future is precarious. The France international's contract expires next summer and an agreement is still to be made. In truth, there are sections of fans who would rather see Konate sold if there is not going to be a resolution in the coming months. Only the expanded Club World Cup prevented Liverpool losing Trent Alexander-Arnold for free. Even the £10 million they banked was a modicum of the right-back's full value. Kopites would not want a repeat of a player in their prime moving to Real Madrid for nothing.
And while Joe Gomez is a fans' favourite and blessed with versatility, his injury record is somewhat of a concern. He had a recurrence of a hamstring problem that required surgery in February.
Sporting director Richard Hughes will be scouring options already. Crystal Palace's Marc Guehi is the obvious name given that he has a year left on his current deal. Guehi has Premier League experience in abundance, is still only 24 and is a regular for England. The Reds will hope that they can agree on a price with Palace. But Liverpool will not want to overpay for Guehi, especially as they know his contractual situation.
Lukeba also hails from France and made the switch to RB Leipzig in the formative years of his career. He is a regular starter for the German side, having made 72 appearances in the past two campaigns after joining from Olympique Lyonnais.
Leipzig will likely know that Lukeba will become another player off their conveyor belt to depart for tens of millions. It's the club's model. Liverpool signed Konate, Naby Keita and Dominik Szoboszlai from Die Rotten Bulen for a combined fee of around £150 million. Joško Gvardiol (Manchester City), Christopher Nkunku (Chelsea), Dani Olmo (Barcelona) and Timo Werner (Chelsea) have all left for vast sums in recent years.
There are suggestions that Lukeba has a release clause of around £77 million in his Leipzig contract. French outletFootMercato says that they could seek a lower price, but a figure has not been given.
However, Liverpool could decrease that number even lower if they offered a player or two. It seems inevitable that Harvey Elliott will leave Anfield this summer. While there's no denying that Elliott has talent in abundance, he started just two league games in 2024-25. With Florian Wirtz arriving for £100 million to likely be deployed in the No.10 position, Elliott's chances of game time have decreased Given that he was named Player of the Tournament as England won the Under-21 European Championships earlier this summer, his stock is high. Leipzig are one of the clubs who have been credited with an interest.
And the possibility of Tyler Morton also moving to the Red Bull Arena could sweeten the deal. Morton was also part of the Young Lions' triumph, with his cross engineering Jonathan Rowe's winner in the 3-2 win over Germany in the final.
However, Morton spent most of last term in the wilderness. He made just five appearances in total, with not a minute being in the league. Morton was linked with Leipzig last summer and could still hold an interest. The idea of moving to Germany could be appealing for the pair - should Leipzig be open to losing Lukeba. It’s certainly one that would make sense for all involved.
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