Liverpool centre-back depth chart after Liverpool sign Ronald Araujo
Liverpool’s depth at centre-back is shallow to say the least, with seven minutes coming from senior centre-backs in their pre-season tour of the USA.
The club saw Ibrahima Konate choose not to renew his contract at the end of last season, and Jeremy Jacquet has been brought in as a young replacement, but his injury at the end of last season means we haven’t seen him playing in a Liverpool shirt yet. Ronald Araujo joins the Reds on loan with an option to buy next season.
1 Virgil van Dijk
Virgil van Dijk is the club captain and undisputed first-choice centre-back at the club. At Liverpool, he has become one of the best defenders on the planet, but at 35 his decline is starting to come.
Van Dijk is once again in the final year of his contract, and it is unclear as to whether he will continue at the club beyond that.
2 Ronald Araujo
Ronald Araujo has come to Liverpool on loan for the year, and the Reds will have the option to sign the defender for £55 million come next summer. The 27-year-old has a range of experience at Barcelona, although he struggled to build a place as the main centre-back and quite often found himself pushed out to right-back when required. He offers Liverpool versatility in defence and with a range of speed and aggressive defending style.
3 Jeremy Jacquet- returning
Jeremy Jacquet is Liverpool’s new defensive signing and at 21, feels like a long-term signing. With the current squad, he will be expected to come in and play a lot alongside Virgil Van Dijk, although the signing of Ronald Araujo does ease this pressure a little.
The Frenchman comes in as a direct but younger replacement for Ibrahima Konate, who left for Real Madrid after his contract expired.
The defender picked up a shoulder injury at the end of last season and still hasn’t taken part in a pre-season friendly for the Reds yet.
4 Joe Gomez- Injured
Gomez has been a stalwart of the Liverpool squad in recent years but has never been able to cement a place in the starting lineup throughout his time at the club. This has regularly been down to injury, and this season has been no different already. Joe Gomez was the only senior centre-back in the opening game of the US Tour, and he came off with an injury after seven minutes, which will keep him out of the season opener.
5 Geovani Leoni- returning
Leoni joined Liverpool last summer and has all the physical attributes to be a top centre-back.
Leoni made his debut in the Carabao Cup last season and immediately became a hit with fans. The Italian defender then proceeded to pick up an ACL injury, which ruled him out for the rest of the season. The youngster has spoken in recent weeks about how close he is to returning from injury.
Young backups
Throughout preseason, Liverpool saw a number of young centre-backs who will be in the pecking order if injuries continued to plague certain defenders in the squad. The youngster who got the most minutes in preseason is ineligible for Premier League registration and will need to go on loan. Ifeanyi Ndukwe did not look out of place alongside Virgil van Dijk at Anfield when he started the preseason friendly against Monaco.
Luke Chambers is primarily a left-back but also showed a strong ability at centre-back. Mor Talla Ndiaye has had some experience in the Liverpool first team over the last few seasons, although has had some disastrous experiences, picking up two red cards in his first three senior appearances.
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Victor Munoz impresses on first day in Liverpool training
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Liverpool right-back depth chart
Liverpool right-back depth chart