Liverpool will need to increase their offer by £32m to land world-class partner for Virgil van Dijk

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This Liverpool team has been utterly dominant and there’s not much wrong with it, but the centre of defence might be the one “weak” spot.

Virgil van Dijk is possible the finest defender in the world so he’s not at fault, but it’s always felt like Joel Matip or Joe Gomez weren’t of the required standard.

If they could find a truly world-class partner for the Dutchman then the defence would become terrifying, and Kalidou Koulibaly would fit the bill.

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He’s good on the ball, very quick and physical and he’s a solid defender, while he’s developed a reputation as one of the best in Europe over recent years.

The big defender was linked with a move to Anfield by the print edition of Italian outlet Corriere dello Sport, as translated by the Daily Mail, and it sounds like they’ve even made a bid to Napoli.

They go on to point out the problem is that Liverpool are around £32m short of his £90m valuation, and that’s probably too much of an obstacle to overcome.

Kalidou Koulibaly is a rumoured transfer target for Liverpool

Money is tight at these times and although Koulibaly is fantastic, spending that much money on a 29 year old centre back might be a bad PR move from Liverpool, so it looks unlikely that this will happen for now.

It does suggest that Jurgen Klopp might want to strengthen the centre of his defence this summer, but it’s likely that a cheaper alternative will need to be found.

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