Liverpool’s horror show at Vicarage Road certainly brought them and Jurgen Klopp back to earth. The defence was a shambles as Mamadou Sakho, Adam Bogdan and Martin Skrtel couldn’t deal with the pace, movement and physical prowess of Watford’s strike partnership, Odion Ighalo and Troy Deeney.
Truth be told, Liverpool didn’t have the best central defensive pairing for quite a while and the absence of Dejan Lovren – who would have imagined that? – Certainly caused them a lot of problems. Liverpool would be in the market to get a new central defender and rumours are circulating that the Reds are going to make a signing for a defender from a foreign league in January, but it wouldn’t be Neven Subotic as many expect.
From Italy to England?
Jeison Murillo is the player on the radar for the English club, not many would have heard about the 23-year-old, but Murillo has certainly attracted a lot of attention with his performances for Inter Milan this season and has even been scouted by the likes of Barcelona and Real Madrid.
The central defender joined Inter Milan at the start of this season from Spanish side Granada. The Colombian was out on loan for most of his time in Spain having had stints at Cadiz and Las Palmas before moving across to Italy and he has actually started there for the Italian Serie A side which is topping the league standings.
Inter do have one of the best defensive records in the competition with only 11 goals being conceded by the team in 17 games this season. Murillo isn’t just one of the best defenders in the team, he is their highest rated player based on Whoscored.com.
Jeison Murillo has a rating of 7.33, which is higher than any other Inter Milan player and averages 1.9 tackles per game and 2.3 interceptions per game as well, which isn’t the highest when compared to the Liverpool defenders but his overall performances have been better than Liverpool’s defenders and his rating is far higher than Liverpool’s players.
Murillo isn’t the archetypical defender in the world; he loves to dribble with the ball and is known to pass over long distances, which would be great for Liverpool who need a ball-playing defender to start the attack from the back.
Mamadou Sakho’s horror defending showing at Watford certainly wasn’t a treat for anyone to see. Murillo would certainly fix that issue if he does sign for the Reds. Reports suggest that Murillo could come to Liverpool for around £22 million which would be a significant amount, but Liverpool must spend to get the right man.
The Reds haven’t had the best of times in the transfer window, especially under Brendan Rodgers but it is a new era under Jurgen Klopp and the German could well have hit the jackpot. He was known for his great signings in Dortmund and this could well be another signing which slips under the radar but turns out to be one of the smartest signings the German ever makes.
Liverpool need a central defender who isn’t prone to making mistakes and Murillo is that player. The Reds would be ecstatic if they can sign him but moving from table-topping Inter to mid-table Liverpool would take a lot more than just hope and expectation of doing well later. Klopp needs to get on the case if Liverpool are to get their man and the German could well persuade him to join the team.
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