Empire of the Kop
·7 August 2026
Not Barcola: Fabrizio Romano drops massively encouraging Liverpool transfer news on Friday morning

In partnership with
Yahoo sportsEmpire of the Kop
·7 August 2026

Fabrizio Romano has urged Liverpool fans to keep an eye on the centre-back market this summer.
The Merseysiders are reportedly considering moving for a central defender in the coming weeks amid their ongoing injury issues in the backline.
At this point in time, a centre-half signing is considered more likely than a new right-back.
“Keep an eye out for centre-backs. What I’m hearing is that Liverpool could consider a move for a centre-back in the summer transfer window in these final weeks,” Romano spoke on his eponymous YouTube channel.
“Liverpool could add one more player in this position. More than right-back in this specific moment; I would keep an eye on the centre-back position.”
Thank… goodness.
With Giovanni Leoni still recovering from injury, Joe Gomez having recently picked up an injury and Jeremy Jacquet yet to be involved in any of Liverpool’s pre-season friendlies, things were clearly not looking good in the centre-back department ahead of the new season.
Yes, we can appreciate the argument that if all of these players are fit, we technically have a full complement of centre-backs.
Want more Empire of the Kop coverage? Add us as a preferred source on Google to your favourites list for news you can trust
But let’s be honest here. Between Gomez’s historically poor injury record and Leoni and Jacquet’s recent serious injuries, it would involve an incredible leap of faith to make the case that we’re fully stocked.
Don’t forget either that if we’re not planning to sign a right-back this summer, we need to be able to rely on the Englishman to support Jeremie Frimpong while we wait for Conor Bradley to return from the treatment room.
At a reported price point of £35m, we’re really surprised that the links to Tottenham right-back Djed Spence haven’t evolved much further.
Of course, there’s every possibility that Liverpool look to be clever about solving their needs at right-back and centre-back with a hybrid signing who can cover both positions.
Like, say, Aston Villa’s Ezri Konsa or Barcelona’s Jules Kounde. There is, of course, an option Liverpool are already intimately familiar with in Bayer Leverkusen’s Jarell Quansah – but it would take £70m to bring the England international back to L4, which is not something we think our recruitment team can countenance.
Either way, there are options out there on the market that may very well come cheaper than splashing £35m on Spence and £34.2m on Ousmane Diomande.
Regardless, we think it would be a terrible idea to leave either position short on bodies going into the 2026/27 season.
More Stories / Latest News







































