Liverpool are still being linked with a move for Club Brugge defender Joel Ordonez during the January transfer window
Club Brugge defender Joel Ordonez.
Club Brugge defender Joel Ordonez has been linked with Liverpool
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Reported Liverpool transfer target Joel Ordonez apparently wanted to be a striker before going on to become a talented centre-back. The Reds have been heavily linked with signing Ordonez this month with the January transfer window now open.
Liverpool made an attempt to strengthen their centre-back options further last summer with the £35million deal for Marc Guehi.
However, the move fell through after Crystal Palace decided not to finalise the deal that would have seen Guehi become a Liverpool player.
As a result, Giovanni Leoni became the only centre-back to sign for Liverpool, and the Reds have since been linked with going into the market once again for a new defender.
Ordonez, 21, has been listed as a potential target for Liverpool in recent reports, with the Club Brugge star impressing for the Belgian club this term. There have also been suggestions that Ordonez could be available for around £43million this month.
Despite being a highly-rated central defender, Ordonez’s first coach from his teenage years, Luis Medina, has claimed that the Ecuador international initially wanted to be a striker.
"Joel was a quiet, very thin, silent boy," Medina is quoted as telling Diario Expreso, via ESPN. "He was actually a striker, and now he might go to Liverpool as a defender. There are things God does that one doesn't understand."
"I remember that Enner scored three goals in the 2014 World Cup and Joel wanted to be a striker who appeared on television," Medina added. "He was always an attacker, he had good acceleration, long legs, he was light and very skinny.
"I felt he could be a great defender because he was strong in one-on-one situations, positioned himself well, and won duels. He marked well even without having the basics of a defender."
Medina also said: "He [Ordonez] was a good striker, but he was better at defending. He told me he wanted to score goals, and I replied that he could prevent them on defence, and that scoring goals was too much responsibility."
Liverpool have until February 2 to complete their transfer business, at which point the window will close and remain so until the summer.
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