According to The Sun, Fulham are set to tempt Liverpool into selling their out-of-favour frontman Divock Origi with an initial £15m bid, with the Reds reportedly open to offers if the price is right.
The 23-year-old striker has made just one Premier League start this season after spending the entirety of last season out on loan with Wolfsburg, and has struggled to dislodge Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Daniel Sturridge in the Anfield pecking order.
In incredible fashion, the Belgian international hit the winner against Everton in the Merseyside derby, but even that doesn’t look like saving his Liverpool career.
In addition to his potential exit, Jurgen Klopp has already sanctioned the departures of Dominic Solanke and Nathaniel Clyne to Bournemouth, which could leave the Reds in a sticky situation if they encounter another injury crisis later on in the season.
Football FanCast take a look at the potential consequences of Liverpool selling as many as three players this month, with no new faces looking likely to come in and replace them…
Title challenge in trouble
We have already witnessed Liverpool become slightly troubled by a number of injuries to first-team players this season, most notably in defence. Both Joe Gomez and Joel Matip suffered injuries which ruled them out for up to six weeks, whilst Trent Alexander-Arnold also had an issue which forced Klopp to play Clyne against Manchester United.
It is worth noting that utility man James Milner was also injured, who can cover in both full-back positions. Some Reds fans also believe the stand-in Dejan Lovren was at fault for their recent 2-1 loss to title rivals Manchester City, which begs the question – why would you weaken your squad even more when those who have to cover for others aren’t up to the required standard?
If Liverpool suffer a similar crisis in the striking department to either Salah or Sturridge, they will be in big trouble.
Basically giving up on cup competitions
As we saw in Liverpool’s recent FA Cup loss to Wolves, in which Origi scored, Klopp doesn’t have a squad big enough to compete in three competitions. Should the Belgian depart Anfield, however, it would even weaken the German boss’ second-string side, which suggests that he is basically putting all his eggs in one basket that is the Premier League title.
With such a bare squad, which is beginning to look like the only star quality amongst it is in the starting eleven, the Reds may even be throwing their hopes of progressing in the Champions League away with this fire sale.
Weaker negotiating stance in discussions with key players
By trimming your squad down to the bare bones and not signing any new players to replace those who have departed, you are basically saying to your top, top players: “I need you, desperately.”
Whilst that is somewhat the case already, when it comes to contract talks or interest from elsewhere, those players’ agents will point to that fact and demand astronomical figures based on their client’s importance to the side, thus weakening Liverpool’s stance in negotiations.
Unmotivated players
It goes without saying that competition within a squad pushes each player to be the best that they can be in the hope that they can keep the shirt.
Without those fringe players breathing down their neck, the motivation levels of those who are in the team could potentially drop, as they know in the back of their minds that there is no-one who can remove them from the teamsheet.
Klopp will have to be at his best to fire up his players if he commits to this fire sale.
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