Rumour Mongering: Liverpool Linked With Anderlecht Defender Kara Mbodji

A top shelf center half. A Class-A center back. Liverpool should be all up in the market for some high-grade central defending if they hope to roll a Yahtzee anytime soon.

Ever since Virgil van Dijk and the Big Saga of Virgil van Dijk, Liverpool’s defense has been both under intense scrutiny and completely worthy of that scrutiny throughout too many matches this season. The anxiety. Our eye on January has been widening since the very first kick-off. Dejan Lovren’s brain going to mush was merely a predictable outcome of what we could feel deep down in our guts was always going to happen.

And so the rumours of defenders linked to the Reds have been a staple of our Liverpool diet this season. They come from here and there and everywhere. Some are rooted in solid connections. Most are dangling scraps from fleeting conversations. But they all have one thing in common. They include a name and a face of player out there in the world who has an agent that is trying to drum up some business and make a splash. Get some cash.

Today’s rumours emanate from inside the world of Anderlecht and Senegalese defender Kara Mbodji. According to Turkish-Football, Liverpool have joined in with the ranks of several Premier League clubs that have taken an interest in Mbodji.

The Senegal center back will certainly have his suitors. Mbodji captains his country’s side and just put on a man-of-the-match performance against South Africa where he scored the winning goal that booked Senegal into the World Cup. Also, Anderlecht claim that Mbodji could be available in January for £10million. A reasonable sum for a reasonably talented player in these times of marvelously large transfer fees.

And it seems true that this guy could turn out to be a solid move for the likes of Brighton and Hove or Newcastle but, for the size of the hole that Jürgen Klopp needs to fill at the back, Kara Mbodji just isn’t going to be the new solution.

Money doesn’t solve or define everything. But Liverpool don’t need a £10M-rated defender. Joe Gomez is on the rise and is likely to slide central once Nathaniel Clyne is back in action to compete with Trent Alexander-Arnold. Klopp needs an experienced player at his peak, or nearing it, to step in and create some honest-to-goodness solidity at the back.