Liverpool went into desperation during the last hours of the market to hire centrals. Matip’s injury, together with those of Van Dijk and Gomez, was already something unbearable for Klopp. During the month of January, the coach expressed the urgent need to incorporate someone in the center of his defense and, likewise, explained that he did not see the possibility of reaching an 80 million central defender, at the level of Van Dijk. ANDl Liverpool, according to account The Athletic, probed all the possibilities.
One of them took him to Barcelona, where he asked about Umtiti. The detail is that, according to the media, it was the French who refused to move. Koeman, with the loss of Piqué, is not for parties in that position either. Eric García will have to wait until the end of the season to join Barcelona, without renewing with Manchester City. Liverpool met with Umtiti’s refusal and quickly turned to Kabak and Davies. The first comes to Anfield on loan from Schalke, with a purchase option of 30 million. While Davies, who ended his contract in June with the Preston North End, signed in exchange for 500,000 euros.
Umtiti, meanwhile, has four games in a row as a starter, three of them complete. Koeman is recovering it and it seems that the French has made an amendment proposal. It transmits good feelings and Barcelona, despite not having suffered too much, is not conceding many goals. Umtiti renewed in 2018 until 2023 and its market value at this time is 10 million. It reached an estimate in 2018 of 70 million.
