Liverpool need to buy a centre-back in January – Carragher calls for yet more Reds spending after £446m spree

Jamie Carragher has urged Liverpool to splash yet more cash when the transfer window re-opens in January and address their issues at centre-back.

Liverpool brought in £446million worth of players in the summer transfer window, bringing in Alexander Isak in a British-record £125m move from Newcastle United and signing Florian Wirtz for £100m from Bayer Leverkusen.

Both Isak and Wirtz have struggled to justify that outlay. Neither has contributed to a goal in the Premier League for Liverpool, who are eight points behind Arsenal.

A successful defence of the title they won last season already appears unlikely, with a defence that has already shipped 17 league goals this campaign a key reason for Liverpool’s inability to keep pace at the top.

For all their additions in attacking areas and at full-back, where Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez arrived, Liverpool did not properly address the heart of their defence.

Giovanni Leoni arrived from Parma, but the 19-year-old suffered an ACL tear in his debut for the club. Liverpool had agreed a deal to sign Marc Guehi from Crystal Palace on deadline day, but that fell through due to the Eagles’ inability to sign a replacement.

Liverpool season close to being derailed

While winning the Premier League may be too much to ask for Liverpool, they can still target success in the Champions League and FA Cup.

And former centre-back Carragher believes they should invest further to aid their efforts in those competitions.

“Liverpool need to spend in January, they need to buy a centre-back, they should have bought a centre-back in the summer,” Carragher told Sky Sports.

“They didn’t, and then the one centre-back they did buy, Leoni, a young Italian player, looked fantastic in the game that he played, a Carabao Cup game. Unfortunately, he got an ACL injury, so we won’t see him until next season.

“Liverpool are probably one injury away at centre-back from really derailing the season, so they have to go to the market in January.”

Carragher reveals Liverpool head scratcher

Liverpool’s level of spending raised a lot of eyebrows following their dominance in the Premier League last season.

Yet Carragher felt the level of spending was justified given the number of players that left who were clearly out of favour with manager Arne Slot.

“I do feel that they did need to bring that number of players in during the summer. I can go through the team of last season – [Kostas] Tsimikas, the manager didn’t really have confidence in him, so you needed to buy a left-back.

“[Jarrell] Quansah moved on, the manager didn’t really have confidence in him. They brought a young player in, Leoni, but still they need another body.

“They had to replace Trent [Alexander-Arnold]. Harvey Elliott moved on, but again, the manager didn’t have much confidence in him, so we went and bought another No 10 in Wirtz.”

Yet Carragher was bemused by the decision to sign Isak after already bringing in Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt.

“[Darwin] Nunez, the manager’s never had confidence in him, so we just went and brought in Isak, and obviously we’ve got the tragic situation of Diogo Jota,” Carragher added.

“But in terms of spending the big money on Isak and [Hugo] Ekitike, who were both playing in the same position, both in the same summer, that was a little one where I was scratching my head a little bit.

“When you’ve spent that type of money, and it just becomes one or the other… It doesn’t feel very Liverpool-like to me, or certainly the way we’ve conducted our transfer business in the last few years.”