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What's the story?
Liverpool weathered a heavy storm over the summer to keep hold of their Brazilian magician Philippe Coutinho, but Barcelona are expected to redouble their efforts come the January transfer window.
With the Catalans' captain, Andres Iniesta, coming out and saying he would be an "important reinforcement" in January Liverpool too seem to be resigned to the inevitable. With this in mind, they have already identified - and if reports in the Daily Star are to be believed - verbally agreed terms with Real Madrid superstar Mateo Kovacic!
A key squad player for the European champions, the £37 million-rated Croat is obviously unhappy with his role and is pushing for more game-time ahead of the 2018 World Cup.
In case you didn't know
While the casual fan will wonder why in the hell Liverpool would think of Kovacic as a plausible replacement for someone of the calibre of Coutinho, the more experienced fans will know that before he left for Madrid, Kovacic was the creative hub of Inter Milan - and his dribbling, creativity, and vision on the ball is vastly underrated by the majority of casual observers.
Jurgen Klopp, of course, is far from that and the German seems to have been impressed by what Kovacic can bring to the Merseyside table
The heart of the matter
Kovacic's ability to run with the ball - only Lionel Messi had more successful dribbles last season La Liga - would add an extra dimension to the Liverpool midfield while giving it more balance - considering the Croat's excellent positioning sense and his defensive diligence.
Video
For those who haven't seen Kovacic do his thing...
Lad can play, eh?
Author's Take
Kovacic would be an excellent addition to the Liverpool first XI, and even if Coutinho were to leave, his absence might not be felt as hard as many Liverpudlians fear.
Kovacic's quality on the ball and his immense dribbling ability would add a whole new dimension to their midfield and his defensive positioning may protect their shaky back 4 too!
