Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola has hinted heavily a new defender must be signed during the transfer window
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola
Liverpool head coach Andoni Iraola(Image: Jacek Boczarski/Anadolu via Getty Images)
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Never too much, as Luther Vandross once crooned. Liverpool, though, aren't quite in the same position as some of their Premier League rivals in terms of stockpiling players and could do with a few more reinforcements before the transfer window closes at the end of the month.
New head coach Andoni Iraola made clear that requirement when holding court in Chicago on Tuesday for the start of the pre-season tour to the United States, where the World Cup absentees have exacerbated the lack of available options.
Iraola explicitly stated a new right winger is needed. But there was also an admission defensive options are currently thin due to injuries and departures this summer, with a new rearguard operator on the wanted list.
Who, though, should Liverpool sign? Our ECHO writers take a look...
Ian Doyle
Liverpool are in a bit of a tricky spot regards their defensive resources at the moment.
Giovanni Leoni and Jeremy Jacquet are clearly regarded as the future with almost £100million spent on the pair, but one is injured and neither have played a minute in the Premier League.
At right-back, Conor Bradley will be the first choice when back fit, but Iraola admits that might not be for months.
It seems unlikely, though, that Liverpool will buy a centre-back and a right-back this summer. With Jeremie Frimpong also available, there's every chance the Reds will once again attempt to muddle through at full-back, with Kostas Tsimikas arguably another option if needs must along with those who played there last season.
Centre-back, though, is a different story. Jarell Quansah could well return next summer with a deal already in place should Liverpool give it the green light, and even if he does that may still leave the Reds short with decisions needed to be made on Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez, who are both out of contract at the end of the season.
What Liverpool need, then, is a player ideally with Premier League experience who can both slot in straight away and perhaps not mind if they don't play every game.
Step forward, then, Ilya Zabarnyi, the Ukraine international who spent two years with Iraola at Bournemouth before a move to Paris Saint-Germain where last season he started regularly in League 1 but hardly at all in the Champions League.
It's a bit of a long shot and PSG would surely want a significant fee to even consider parting with a player for whom they paid £57million. But it would safeguard Liverpool's centre-back options for a lengthy time to come.
At a push, Zabarnyi can also play right-back. So, it makes a lot of sense.
Mark Jones
Andoni Iraola has had about a week and a half to assess the defensive options he has in front of him, and it is no surprise that he has decided more are needed.
Virgil van Dijk's absence on a well-deserved post World Cup break has only put Liverpool's defensive insufficiencies into sharper focus, and the real concern from the new Reds boss will be the lack of experience he has back there.
Joe Gomez aside, and with the future of Kostas Tsimikas still uncertain, there is only Milos Kerkez among Iraola's senior, available charges who has more than one season of Premier League football under his belt. Jeremy Jacquet and Giovanni Leoni are untested, Jeremie Frimpong was injury-prone last season and Conor Bradley is still some way away from a return, as per Iraola himself.
So as well as Kerkez, how about a reunion with another one of the manager's former charges?
Like Kerkez, Ilya Zabarnyi was a consistent, impressive presence in Iraola's Bournemouth side for two Premier League seasons, missing just three league games and earning a transfer to Paris Saint-Germain last summer.
The European champions are a hard outfit to walk away from of course, but the Ukraine international played just seven of their Champions League games last season and a move to play under a manager who has already done so much for him must surely appeal.
The centre-back would add quality and experience to the Reds back line, and at 23 would help future-proof for the eventual departure of Van Dijk.
He wouldn't be cheap, but he might be worth it.