Liverpool face huge decision over pursuit of Serie A defender | OneFootball

Between Necessity and Transition: Liverpool’s Defensive Limbo

With the European transfer window ticking towards its 19:00 deadline on Monday 2nd February, Liverpool find themselves in a strangely exposed position for a club supposedly defending a league title. The issue is not theoretical or future-facing — it is painfully immediate. The right side of defence is threadbare, patched together by compromise rather than design, and yet there is little sense that decisive action is imminent.

Conor Bradley’s season-ending knee injury removed a trusted internal solution. Giovani Leoni, another long-term option, is also sidelined for the remainder of the campaign. Jeremie Frimpong, whose availability has already been intermittent, now faces another spell out with a hamstring injury that could rule him out for most of February. That leaves Liverpool without a natural senior right-back at a critical juncture of the season. Joe Gomez is a lovely idea, yet his return from injury as always may be fleeting.

Arne Slot’s reluctance to trust Calvin Ramsay has quietly hardened into an unpopular verdict. The Scot has barely featured and, at this point, cannot realistically be expected to step into meaningful Premier League minutes. Instead, Liverpool is relying on improvisation. Wataru Endō can cover centrally and drop into defence when required. Ryan Gravenberch has been asked to fill gaps before. Curtis Jones can survive in patches. Amara Nallo is talented but untested at this level.

None of these are solutions. They are workarounds — and fragile ones at best.

This matters because Liverpool’s domestic struggles are not random. Low blocks, direct transitions, and counter-attacks have repeatedly undone them. Defensive stability and wide recovery speed are not luxuries in this context; they are prerequisites. Without them, more points will slip away, and Champions League qualification will drift from “under pressure” to genuinely uncertain.

Short-Term Fix or Long-Term Silence?

What makes the situation stranger is the silence. Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes appear hesitant to commit resources to a manager whose future is increasingly uncertain. Xabi Alonso’s name hangs over everything — not as idle gossip, but as a credible, looming alternative. The sense is that Liverpool is already thinking beyond Arne Slot, even as he fights to steady a wobbling campaign.

That context makes January business awkward. Any defensive signing now would need to justify itself beyond the next four months. Alonso, if and when he arrives, is widely expected to favour a 3-4-2-1 system — one that redefines the role of full-backs entirely. Wing-backs with stamina and attacking thrust matter; orthodox right-backs matter less. Investing heavily now in a specialist defender risks creating an expensive misfit by summer.

And yet, doing nothing carries its own cost.

Liverpool could take a calculated risk on a short-term loan, perhaps for Denzel Dumfries to cover the right hand side. A functional, experienced defender who can survive Premier League intensity, cover space, and allow tactical continuity until the season ends. It would not contradict future planning, nor would it commit the club for the long term. The question is whether Liverpool sees enough upside in salvaging this league campaign to justify it.

The next few days will tell their own story. If Liverpool acts, it suggests a belief that the season can still be stabilised. If they don’t, it may confirm that the club has already shifted its focus — away from firefighting the present and towards reshaping the future.

Either way, the Newcastle match may not just be a fixture. It could be a final checkpoint before Liverpool decides whether this season is still worth saving — or simply surviving.