Scouting mission underway: Liverpool are eyeing up their next Joe Gomez in £53m aerial monster | OneFootball

Liverpool scouts are reportedly set to take a closer look at one player with echoes of Joe Gomez.

Despite a summer shopping spree to the tune of almost £450m, the Reds’ defensive options still look worryingly light amid injuries to two of the new arrivals in Jeremie Frimpong and Giovanni Leoni, with the latter set to be sidelined for a long time after tearing his ACL.

It’s heightened the sense of regret over the collapse of the deadline day deal for Marc Guehi, and while links with the Crystal Palace captain persist, sporting director Richard Hughes is also casting an eye on the European market for prospective recruits.

Liverpool scouts watching Wilfried Singo

According to Turkish outlet Sabah, Liverpool had scouts at Galatasaray’s 3-0 win over Ajax in the Champions League last week (which prompted the Dutch side to sack Johnny Heitinga) to watch Wilfried Singo, with Manchester United and Arsenal also understood to be eyeing the defender.

The Merseyside delegation were reportedly impressed by the 24-year-old and will jet out to get another look at him in his team’s forthcoming European fixtures against Union Saint-Gilloise and AS Monaco.

The latter actually sold the Ivory Coast international to the Istanbul outfit for around €30m (£26.4m) in the summer, and his release clause is set at twice that amount, with club chiefs braced for offers in the January transfer window.

(Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)

Liverpool know all about Singo already

Liverpool fans might remember Singo from Galatasaray’s win over us six weeks ago, with the Ivorian helping his team to victory by winning eight duels (the second-most for his side) and three tackles, along with making four clearances and two interceptions (Sofascore).

His statistics from the 3-0 thrashing of Ajax were also impressive, having won seven duels, completed 100% of his dribbles and 92% of his passes, and made three tackles and three interceptions (Sofascore).

Similar to Gomez, the 24-year-old is equally comfortable at right-back and centre-back, and his ability to seamlessly cover both positions immediately makes him an appealing option to consider, in addition to his defensive attributes.

As per FBref, Singo ranks highly for a number of qualities on and off the ball in comparison to other centre-backs in Europe’s main leagues, while he’s among the top 1% of full-backs in Europe over the past year with his match averages for interceptions (1.92), clearances (5.61) and aerial duels won (2.3).

Furthermore, in his time with Torino when he was younger, the Ivory Coast international stood out for his pace, strength and dribbling (The Cult of Calcio), so it’s apparent that he has numerous strings to his bow other than his versatility.

It seems inevitable that he won’t leave Galatasaray on the cheap, especially if a bidding war were to ensue between several suitors, and the volume of interest in him will only grow if he continues to impress on the Champions League stage.

Liverpool could do with reinforcing their defensive options in January, especially if further injuries strike in the meantime, and they could do a lot worse than pursue the 24-year-old who’s already gotten one over on the Reds this season.

You can watch Slot’s full post-Man City press conference via Empire of the Kop on YouTube: