Joel Ordonez. (Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images)placeholder image
Joel Ordonez. (Photo by Omar Vega/Getty Images) | Getty Images
Liverpool have been strongly linked with a move for Club Brugge defender Joel Ordonez
Liverpool are in the market for some defensive reinforcements with just three senior centre-backs available for Arne Slot at Anfield.
The Dutch manager has called upon Virgil van Dijk and Ibrahima Konate for the majority of the campaign with Joe Gomez playing a handful of times. He has been unavailable recently due to injury with Liverpool’s other central defender - Giovanni Leoni - playing just once this campaign after suffering a cruel ACL injury on his debut.
The Anfield outfit did try to sign Marc Guehi in the summer and had agreed a £35m deal with Crystal Palace for the ex-Chelsea man. However, the Eagles u-turned on the deal at the 11th hour and the Reds were left short in central defence.
Liverpool transfer twist as Liverpool not in for Joel Ordonez
According to Expreso, one of Ecuador’s leading newspapers, Liverpool were said to be ‘one signature away’ from finalising a swoop for the centre-back.
Ordonez has spent the past two-and-a-half seasons at Club Brugge, helping them win the Belgian title in 2024 and reach the Champions League last 16 last season. The defender has made 105 appearances, scoring four goals. He has also been capped 14 times for Ecuador and will represent his country at the World Cup later this year.
They claim that Liverpool are not actively pursuing a move for the defender and that “a deal is not on the agenda for Liverpool's hierarchy as it stands.”
It means that Liverpool will still be in need of reinforcements this month.
What Arne Slot has said about signing a new defender in January
Speaking last month, Slot did not commit to signing a new defender this month. He said: “First of all for himself but the injury of Giovanni Leoni is, of course, it has quite a lot of impact.
“If you have four centre-backs for the season, two right and two left-backs with Wata (Endo) and Ryan (Gravenberch) who can help you out, but then you have an ACL injury, that is not very helpful.”
He added: “The outside world wants to believe we have unlimited money but that is not true. You insiders know – and you are the only ones because the outside world only talks about our spending – what we have brought in (money-wise) to spend.
“That is the way we work over here. You then have to accept that in certain games during a season you are short of a right full-back. But we are still able to win. I fully believe in that way of working, by the way.”
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