Liverpool’s transfer window is going swimmingly as Bournemouth’s Milos Kerkez is en route for a medical on the back of the signings of Jeremie Frimpong and Florian Wirtz from Bayer Levekusen.
But the Reds may well have something of a centre-back crisis to deal with as the imminent sale of Jarell Quansah to Leverkusen comes amid ‘fears’ over the future of Ibrahima Konate.
The 26-year-old has ‘rejected’ an opening extension offer from the club as he’s ‘disappointed by the structure’ of what’s been put on the table. He wants a higher basic wage and with Real Madrid keep tabs, sporting director Richard Hughes may need to consider a replacement.
Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi looks set to join as Quansah’s replacement but we’ve taken a look at the the excellent FBRef for options across Europe’s top five leagues who have the most similar characteristics to Konate – namely winning the vast majority of duels, both on the deck and in the air – to see who the Reds may target as a second centre-back addition this summer.
10) Robin Koch (Eintracht Frankfurt)
There will be not unreasonable scoffs and raised eyebrows at this one given the Premier League-centric abiding memory of Koch will be of him getting relegated with Leeds in 2023. But he’s since had two pretty successful campaigns for Eintracht Frankfurt, captaining them for much of this season to help them into the Champions League, and he played every minute of Germany’s latest two Nations League games against Portugal and France.
9) Eric Dier (Bayern Munich)
It would be a surprise, sure, but we always thought Dier was an easy target when things were going wrong at Tottenham and 16 starts last season at the heart of the Bundesliga champions’ defence proves he can do a job for an elite football team when required.
And if Liverpool do find the bottom of their apparently enormous pot of cash this summer before sourcing a replacement for Konate, a 31-year-old with 274 Premier League appearances makes a lot of sense as a back-up option.
8) Florian Lejeune (Rayo Vallecano)
Dier may well feel as though he has unfinished business in the Premier League but we’re guessing Lejeune – having barely registered on the English top-flight map for the majority of his Newcastle career – will be desperate to avoid sullying a reputation which peaked in extraordinary fashion when his last two kicks of a football for the Magpies saw him turn a 2-0 deficit against Everton into a 2-2 draw in stoppage time. Business very much finished.
7) Matteo Gabbia (AC Milan)
Gabbia enjoyed his best season by a long shot in 2024/2025, starting 25 Serie A games for Milan after a previous high of 14 and earning a call-up for Italy in October. But we’re guessing Liverpool may be concerned it’s taken a 25-year-old quite so long to make his mark.
6) Tosin Adarabioyo (Chelsea)
He’s arguably been Chelsea’s most consistent centre-back since joining from Fulham on a free transfer, which admittedly isn’t the greatest of compliments, but there’s a lot to be said for a six or seven out of ten guy who’s not going to be rapping on Arne Slot’s door for a starting spot.
5) Levi Colwill (Chelsea)
Liverpool have held a long-term interest in Colwill since his impressive loan spell at Brighton and we’ve been very surprised to see that interest being maintained through what was a less than impressive season-and-a-half in Chelsea’s starting XI, but we’re starting to get it after his displays over the last few months.
Having for a long time seemed frankly too weak to be considered a top level centre-back, he appeared to grow both physically and mentally in the second half of the season while moving towards earning that most coveted reputation of being in the right place at the right time.
4) Micky van de Ven (Tottenham)
Possibly the guy Liverpool fans would be most excited about joining because just imagine what a guy who’s that sh*t quick and can pull off remarkable pieces of athleticism as he did to deny Rasmus Hojlund with that goal-line clearance in the Europa League final might be able to achieve under a manager who doesn’t expect him to do the defending for the entire XI.
3) Clement Lenglet (Atletico Madrid)
Barcelona, Tottenham and Aston Villa found Lenglet to be perfectly suitable back-up option while Diego Simeone made him more than that at Atletico Madrid last term and he knows his centre-backs. The La Liga side kept 11 clean sheets in the 23 La Liga games the 30-year-old started.
2) Malick Thiaw (AC Milan)
Liverpool were supposedly looking at Thiaw as he broke into the Schalke first team as a teenager in 2020, but he’s never quite kicked on despite moving to Milan in 2022. His last of three caps for Germany came in October 2023.
1) Amir Rrahmani (Napoli)
Antonio Conte described the Kosovo captain as “a soldier, a robot, a computer” after the 31-year-old played all but 13 Serie A minutes during Napoli’s Scudetto win last term.
The 31-year-old has been linked with both Arsenal and Manchester United in the past, but we suspect Liverpool would have to pry him from Conte’s cold, dead hands to land him this summer.