3 reasons why Liverpool shouldn't sign anyone in January

The January transfer window is now wide open, and already we’ve seen the first big deal made as Chelsea have signed Christian Pulisic from Borussia Dortmund – albeit with the player joining at the end of the season. But will any other big Premier League side make any major acquisitions this month?

League leaders Liverpool haven’t actually been linked with many players just yet, and boss Jurgen Klopp has thus far chosen not to comment on any potential transfers. But that probably won’t stop fans of the Reds from expecting a big-money move at some stage in January.

That’d be a mistake in my opinion, though. Liverpool simply shouldn’t bring any new talent aboard this month, and here are 3 reasons why.

---

#1 Their squad is already very strong

The summer signing of Alisson has helped to strengthen Liverpool's squad hugely

Last season saw Liverpool finish 4th in the Premier League while reaching the final of the UEFA Champions League, and while the Reds didn’t come away with any trophies, the overriding feeling was that with a bit more strength in their squad, they could achieve something special in 2018/19.

Evidently, manager Jurgen Klopp agreed with that sentiment, and over the past two transfer windows, the German boss has improved his squad markedly. Virgil van Dijk was brought in last January to help to shore up a questionable defence, and that back line was made even stronger by the acquisition of goalkeeper Alisson Becker in the summer.

Liverpool also strengthened their midfield with the signings of Fabinho and Naby Keita, hoping to take the pressure off Jordan Henderson, Georginio Wijnaldum and James Milner. And unsurprisingly, Klopp’s work in the transfer market has paid off.

The Reds are still at the top of the Premier League, and now have the tightest defence in the country thanks primarily to Van Dijk and Alisson. Liverpool’s midfielders are performing better than ever, and unsurprisingly, the trio of Mo Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane have continued to fire on all cylinders.

So why do Liverpool even need to sign anyone? To be quite frank, they don’t. Their squad is incredibly powerful as it is – and the Reds still have Joe Gomez and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain to return from injury. To buy someone in January would simply be a waste of money for them.

#2 Nobody that could improve them is available

A world-class creative midfielder like Christian Eriksen won't be available to Klopp in January

If you had to identify one area that Liverpool could potentially improve in, you’d probably have to say that they could do with a world-class creative midfielder. They haven’t really had a player capable of unlocking a top defence since Philippe Coutinho moved to Barcelona last year, and while they’ve done fine without him, a player of his ilk would be like the icing on the cake for Klopp’s squad now.

But where do you find an available, world-class creative midfielder? The likely answer is that you don’t. Sure, there are plenty of them out there, but despite their current position, Liverpool just don’t have the kind of financial clout that allows them to sign whoever they like, as Real Madrid or Barcelona do. The likes of Christian Eriksen, Kevin De Bruyne and Luka Modric simply aren’t realistic targets right now.

Liverpool could perhaps make a move for someone like Sergej Milinkovic-Savic, but realistically a player like that is still largely unproven at the top level. Could he develop into something special? Sure, but that just wouldn’t be worth Klopp’s time, at least not in a January transfer window.

If the Reds slip up and don’t end up winning anything, then a move for someone like Milinkovic-Savic could make sense in the summer, but right now, a finished article just isn’t available on the market for a team of Liverpool’s clout. So why try to force it?

#3 A big signing could disrupt the balance of the squad

Some past January signings - like Faustino Asprilla at Newcastle - have done more harm than good

If Liverpool were to go and splash the cash to bring a new superstar aboard in January, Reds fans might be happy initially, but there’s no guarantee that whoever they could bring in would necessarily be a positive influence. We’ve seen on numerous occasions before that signing players in January isn’t easy and doesn’t always add to a squad in the right way.

Lucas Moura, for instance, is now having tremendous success at Tottenham, but it took him until the start of 2018/19 to really kick into gear after struggling massively when he arrived last January. And Jurgen Klopp is renowned for making new players acclimatise to his style before giving them chances, as he did with Andrew Robertson and Fabinho. A big signing in January, therefore, might be largely unable to add to the Reds’ title chances.

That’d be the potential best-case scenario, though. We’ve also seen before that signing a big name in the January window can outright disrupt the balance of a squad and cause them to go downhill rather than uphill. We witnessed this to an extent when Manchester United brought in Alexis Sanchez last January, but of course, the most notorious example of this happened back in 1995/96.

In that season, Newcastle went into 1996 with a 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League table, a much bigger margin than Liverpool currently hold this season. When they signed Colombian striker Faustino Asprilla in the January window, he looked like the final piece of the puzzle.

But instead, he largely disrupted the balance of Kevin Keegan’s squad, caused some off-the-field problems, and Manchester United managed to overhaul the Magpies’ lead and steal away the title. Asprilla wasn’t entirely to blame, of course – but his signing was a clear turning point for Newcastle.

So in a similar situation, why would Klopp want to risk disrupting what appears to be a happy, harmonious squad, particularly when he doesn’t necessarily need to? For me, it’d be madness – and it’s a major reason why he shouldn’t sign anyone in the January window.