Liverpool ANNOUNCE Richard Hughes' long-term transfer vision | OneFootball

Guehi's future hangs in the balance

The signing of Ordonez would make him the second centre-back (fourth defender overall), to join the club over the last 12 months, with himself and Giovanni Leoni backing up the trio of Virgil Van Dijk, Ibrahima Konate and Joe Gomez. With the Italian out for the season, Liverpool would have four again.

Konate is set to be out of contract in the summer, and the context that Ordonez is also a right-sided centre-back, makes it highly likely that the new signing could be an early replacement for him.

That would leave Arne Slot with four players in the summer for the position - an ageing captain, an unreliable flexible back-up option and two young players that will be leading the club in the future.

But where does Marc Guehi at Crystal Palace fit into all of this? Well, the Englishman prefers to play down the left-side which directly puts him in competition with Van Dijk - although it feels as though he could literally take over from the Dutchman, as Guehi plays a similar role to him for Crystal Palace.

And if the 26-year-old's signing as a free agent were to be completed in the summer, then Liverpool would have two players on the left side at centre-back, two on the right - if Konate decides to leave - and Gomez would be a bit of a spare-part, although you feel as though his time is starting run out.

In general, that long-term vision looks quite nice, with Guehi's arrival giving Van Dijk the freedom to retire whenever he wants and see out his deal until 2027, without there having to be any major drama.

If Konate were to pen a new deal this season, then he could become one of the main leaders in the team moving forward, and players like Ordonez and Leoni would be able to settle into their roles with ease, instead of having their personal development plans being unnecessarily rushed or fast-tracked.

And the team would have a variety of different options for their defence, with a mixed age-profile.

The only caveat is that Liverpool would need Guehi's signing to happen, irrespective of Ordonez completing his move later this January - if the reports are to be believed - and that would mean that Liverpool would've signed three centre-backs in 12 months, which would be an extraordinary feat.

Putting all the pieces together for this grand vision to become reality is quite the task, and while it feels necessary for the backline to be properly refurbished, we're talking about a lot of changes.

We'll have to wait and see if Ordonez, Guehi and Konate all play their parts in this particular theory, but it's can't be underestimated how impressive it would be if Liverpool can get it all over the line.