Arne Slot's Liverpool will be a side to watch out for in January.placeholder image
Arne Slot's Liverpool will be a side to watch out for in January. | Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Liverpool will be looking to strengthen in January but AC Milan are considering a move for a player who Arne Slot still needs.
Arne Slot must have thought that managing Liverpool was easy until the short-lived joy of winning the Premier League turned into his most difficult period in charge.
It appears as if the Reds boss has finally found a combination of tactics and selection that works with results improving and the league table looking better than it did a month or two ago too. The Dutchman will be hoping for a clean bill of health and a successful January in the hope that he can get his side back into the title race with a pivotal clash against Arsenal just around the corner.
AC Milan still want Joe Gomez
What he won’t want is a repeat of the injury problems and lack of consistency in team selection that blighted the early stages of the season with a decision being taken on the possible exit of players who nearly left in the summer. One such player is Joe Gomez who came close to joining AC Milan in what would have been a huge move for the longest serving Liverpool player. According to Lewis Steele at The Daily Mail, a repeat move would only be considered on one condition: “Given the lack of options Slot has available, it would be a bad decision to let any first-team options depart in January.
“Gomez had suitors in Italy in the last week of the summer window and AC Milan retained an interest but he cannot leave unless a replacement is signed.” Slot might trust other players to fill in, however, he is desperately short of centre-halves who can play week in, week out, with Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate being trusted regardless of form. Not having Giovanni Leoni available is also a huge miss with the teenage defender looking immensely promising on his competitve debut.
How close was Gomez to leaving Liverpool?
It was a similar story in the summer as Gomez suffered at the hands of Crystal Palace being unable to sign a replacement for Marc Guehi. Speaking to Liverpool World in the summer, Sky Sports transfer journalist and Italian football expert Luca Bendoni explained just how close the versatile defender came to leaving Anfield.
“Milan had a full agreement in place for Joe Gomez,” said Bendoni. “All set to be signed, player supposed to travel, flight booked. They had an internal deadline around 1pm because they wanted to check him with medicals so they (Milan) needed the green light on time. The green light could only come if Liverpool signed (Marc) Guehi, but it had to be before 1pm because they had to fly him (Gomez) to Italy. (In the end) They had no time.”
Letting Jarrel Quansah leave without signing Guehi was a mistake, but there is a feeling that Gomez has suffered as a result given the lack of options. Liverpool need to be more proactive in January, rather than keeping players just because they need the numbers.
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