5 players Liverpool should target in the summer

Jamaal Lascelles

With Joel Matip perennially injured and Ragnar Klavan reaching the back end of his career, Jurgen Klopp will need to recruit a reliable center-back if Liverpool are to compete on all fronts next season. Newcastle captain Jamaal Lascelles can be that center-back.

Dejan Lovren and Virgil van Dijk formed a strong partnership during the second half of the current season and there is no reason that it can’t continue for the foreseeable future. But with the prospect of another 50-match campaign, as has been the case this season, Liverpool will need a strong and reliable option to call upon in the event of injury, rotation or lack of form.

Lascelles would be the perfect signing in this regard and he would be more than just an option. At 24 years of age and having come within inches of making England’s World Cup squad, he is a player whose stock is on the rise and one who Liverpool should make their own. The former Nottingham Forrest defender is an undeniable leader on the pitch, comfortable on the ball and is able to dominate attackers in a similar vein as Virgil van Dijk. It is with the Dutchman in particular that Lascelles could form an impregnable defensive partnership. The pair are similar in their strengths with few weaknesses between them and could well be Liverpool’s starting pair.

Former Liverpool manager Rafa Benitez, currently at the helm of Newcastle, would be loathe to lose his influential captain but the Toon’s financial position and off-field distractions may take the matter out of his hands. Much like with Sessegnon before, Liverpool should be able to get their man if they name the right price.