Should the Reds not dip their toes into the market, supporters will understandably be disappointed. They are currently competing on all four fronts after all, and know full well, sitting at top of the Premier League table, that every little helps. Yet that feeling of not signing anyone in January is not a new one to Kopites. While Klopp has signed eight players mid-season in his eight years at Anfield, including Gakpo and Diaz in the last two winter windows, the German is on the record sharing his discontent for the market.
Liverpool ‘make’ fifth January transfer decision amid Jurgen Klopp injury crisis“I am not the biggest friend of the January transfer window,” he said when overseeing his first winter window with Liverpool back in 2016. That month, he would make Marko Grujic his first signing, though the Serbian would stay with Red Star Belgrade until the summer, and brought in Steven Caulker on loan. Fortunately, the aforementioned attacks and Virgil van Dijk are much more successful mid-season buys!Indeed, some of the Reds’ best signings in the Premier League era have come in January. Along with Gakpo, Diaz, and Van Dijk, you can also include Philippe Coutinho, Daniel Sturridge, Luis Suarez, and Javier Mascherano. Maxi Rodriguez, Martin Skrtel, Alvaro Arbeloa, and Daniel Agger are just some of the other success stories too.
Liverpool have signed 25 senior players since the January transfer window was first introduced in 2002/03. From those 23 previous winter windows, the Reds have been inactive in seven of them, with five of those falling during FSG’s time in charge since taking over the club in October 2010. Sometimes, that has been through choice but in other cases it was not through lack of trying. And January 2014, with Liverpool then unknowingly about to start a Premier League title charge, falls into the latter category.
For all the great players the Reds have signed in January windows, they nearly landed their greatest ever Premier League signing mid-season. They were in talks to sign Mohamed Salah from FC Basel but ultimately refused to match the £12m asking price, with their reluctance enabling Chelsea to swoop in and sign the forward instead. The Egyptian would of course flop at Stamford Bridge, departing on loan to Fiorentina after just a year in England before moving on to AS Roma. Joining the Serie A side permanently in August 2016 after another successful loan, Liverpool would bring him back to England in 2017 after seeing him flourish in Italy, and the rest, as they say, is history. But that was no good to Brendan Rodgers’ side in January 2014. They had to turn their attention elsewhere. Sitting fourth in the Premier League, eight points off league-leaders Arsenal, at the time of Chelsea announcing they had agreed a deal for Salah, they still sought reinforcements with little over a week of the transfer window remaining.
Yevhen Konoplyanka was their next target of choice, with the Ukraine international boasting a £15m buyout clause in his contract with Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk. Liverpool made it clear they were prepared to match, only for the club’s owner, Ihor Kolomoyskyi, to simply refuse to sign off the deal as he didn’t want to lose his star player.
The ECHO reported at the time how managing director Ian Ayre had spent 48 hours in Ukraine desperately trying to secure the services of the 24-year-old winger. He believed Konoplyanka would be heading for Anfield too after Liverpool’s improved offer triggered his buyout clause. Rodgers said early on transfer deadline day as the Reds raced against the clock. “There is obviously an interest in the player but there is no update. “We’ll see how it goes but obviously it is complicated. The staff that are over there have done brilliant work in terms of giving us every chance of getting the player. “It has all happened very quickly and the timeline on everything always makes it tight. But we’ve had a list with a number of players on it and we’ll see how it all develops.
As things stand, it’s shaping up to be a quiet January transfer window for Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp has already shot down the possibility of the Reds signing a new centre-back after Joel Matip’s season-ending ACL injury, while club sources have dismissed Liverpool strengthening in midfield or at left-back. Meanwhile, even with Mohamed Salah away at the Africa Cup of Nations, the presence of Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez, and Cody Gakpo ensures they are well-stocked in attack.
