Brendan Rodgers doesn’t expect to bring in any new central defenders during the January transfer window.
Filip Benkovic and Dedryck Boyata are currently the first choice partnership in that area of the team but neither is likely to be around in July for the start of the European qualifiers.
Putting together a new partnership to get through four qualifying rounds looks to be a tall order but Rodgers doesn’t expect to be able to find anyone of sufficient quality this month.
Asked about that area of the team he told the Evening Times: “I think that will be very difficult to do that this month. To be brutally honest, if we were to bring in someone of the quality we require they would want to play. There are positions we’ll look at but that is one where a couple of our key players will move on and will need to be replaced.
“Obviously, we have young Kris Ajer and Jozo Simunovic already here. It’s an area of the team we will find it tough to strengthen in January but it’s a must to do that in the summer.
“It’s a possibility that we will spend more in the next couple of weeks. We’ve brought in a couple of loans and a young boy with potential. I’m not sure – it’s down to availability and also to what’s affordable from the club’s perspective but I think we’ll look to add to our squad. There are also a few lads we’ll be sending out on loan but there are still key areas we’ve been looking to strengthen over a period of time.”
Benkovic will return to Leicester City at the end of the season while Boyata will almost certainly move on as a free agent.
Soon after taking over as manager Rodgers brought in Kolo Toure who helped the side through the Champions League qualifiers into the group stage.
Erik Sviatchenko and Jozo Simuovic were brought together during that first campaign before Boyata replaced the Dane in January 2017.
Despite signing Jack Hendry and Marvin Compper a year ago neither player has been able to claim a regular place which resulted in the move to bring in Benkovic on loan- after Celtic had been knocked out of the Champions League.
