Top 5 English clubs - Positions they need to strengthen and the players they should sign in January

#4 Liverpool

Positions that need strengthening - Centre-back, Defensive Midfielder

Mo Salah has been incredible for Liverpool

The summer transfer window was extremely busy for Liverpool. The Philippe Coutinho transfer saga involving Barcelona went on until deadline day, with the player later publicly acknowledging that he wanted to join the club.

"What happened was a job offer and, in life, sometimes you get interested, sometimes you don’t, and in my case, as everybody knows, I got interested, my family too. But as I’ve always said, it’s a great honour to receive an offer from such a great club like that, but it’s also a great honour being here - Liverpool is great club worldwide." - Philippe Coutinho on his speculated Barcelona transfer

They did manage to hold on to Coutinho though, and in addition also made very fruitful buys. Mohammed Salah has been a revelation for the Reds, currently the top scorer of the Premier League. Dominic Solanke has shown promise whenever given a chance. But Jurgen Klopp has been criticized for the same reason again and again - his inability to lure a world-class defender to Anfield.

The need for a world-class defender is of utmost requirement for Liverpool at the moment. The 5-0 defeat to Manchester City highlighted the requirement ever so clearly, and recently Sevilla came back from 3-0 down after the first half to draw the game, igniting memories of the famous Crystal Palace comeback during the Suarez era. And all this has the same underlying reason to it - there is no world-class defender to marshall the defence.

Liverpool's defence needs to step up

Klopp plays a 4-3-3 formation in general. The centre-back pairing has been very inconsistent throughout this season, with duties being shared among Matip, Lovren, Klavan and Emre Can (naturally a defensive midfielder), and Klopp thus has not been able to figure out his go-to defensive back four. Joseph Gomez has been very impressive at right back in the absence of Nathaniel Clyne, while Alberto Moreno has not been upto the mark on a few occasions.

Joseph Gomez has taken his chances this season

The transfer of Dutch defender Virgil Van Dijk (Southampton) to Liverpool was all but confirmed in the summer, but it fell through due to Southampton's high asking price. Another player in the same mould as Van Dijk is what Liverpool need. Van Dijk has a no-nonsense approach to his game. He has an astonishing 6.8 clearances per game this season and the previous season, and an impressive 2 tackles per game and 2.4 interceptions as well (as per WhoScored).

Stefan de Vrij (Lazio) has been linked to Liverpool, and at the age of 25 he could be their mainstay defender for years to come. Laurent Koscielny (Arsenal) is another defender who has been in the news with rumors suggesting his departure from Arsenal. With a lot of experience in marshalling the defence for the past few years, Liverpool could acquire an asset in Koscielny. He would be a short-term acquisition as he is already 32 but he could provide the much-needed stability that Liverpool requires at least for one or two seasons, and could be a role model for the younger defenders to learn from.

Virgil Van Dijk is being pursued by many clubs

Another position of suspect is the holding midfielder, which is currently occupied by Jordan Henderson. The stats of Jordan Henderson in the Premier League this season tell the story - his tackles have reduced from 3.7 per game last season to 1.9 per game this season, his interceptions have reduced from 1.7 to 0.9 per game, and his clearances have reduced from 1.7 to 1 per game (as per WhoScored). Those stats are just not good enough for a defensive midfielder, who is expected to help the defence out a lot more.

William Carvalho (Sporting Lisbon) is a Portuguese defensive midfielder who has been scouted by many of Europe's biggest clubs. He has been impressive for both his club, and the Portugal national team. An expert in breaking down attacks and still 25, Carvalho is a player that Liverpool must target.

William Carvalho