Successor to Van Dijk! Liverpool plans to introduce a central defender from the Bundesliga giants!

As we all know, Liverpool’s defense is in troubled times.

First of all, Van Dyke is 34 years old and needs to find his long-term successor as soon as possible.

Secondly, the injury crisis has also dealt a major blow to the defense. The 18-year-old youngster Joe Leoni and the main defender Konate were injured one after another, so it has become necessary to strengthen the defense in the winter window.

Although their long-cherished Gueye is still on the signing list, Crystal Palace has made it clear that it will not let him go in the winter window and wants to keep Gueye to cope with the multi-line tasks this season. In addition, it also has to face competition from giants such as Bayern and Real Madrid.

In this case, Liverpool identified a new signing target-Schlotterbeck.

According to "Bild", the Premier League giant Liverpool has internally selected Schloterbeck as Van Dijk's perfect successor, and plans to launch an offensive in the winter window. Schloterbeck himself is open to joining Liverpool.

Next, Xiao Ou will introduce the situation of Schlotterbeck to the students.

Schlotterbeck is 25 years old this year. He made a strong comeback after suffering a serious meniscus injury and has continued to contribute stable performance under Kovac this season. His contract with Dortmund expires in June 2027, but renewal negotiations are currently suspended.

It is understood that Dortmund has offered Schloterback a contract extension until 2030, but if he accepts it, his annual salary will only be about 8 million euros, which is only 2.5 million euros higher than his current salary.

Dortmund’s move made Schloterbeck very dissatisfied. Because teammate Süle currently has an annual salary of 14 million euros, but he sits on the bench most of the time. As the core of the defense, he has not received the attention he deserves.

Since the contract renewal is not going well, is Dortmund willing to sell him?

"Bild" stated that Dortmund is firmly opposed to selling Schlotterbeck in January, but Liverpool is not without the slightest chance. Dortmund is a club that is "willing to sell its core but the asking price is extremely high". As long as a team is willing to match their valuation, they are not opposed to letting go.

According to previous reports, Liverpool considered paying a transfer fee of approximately 50 million pounds for Schloterbeck last summer. Considering that his contract with Dortmund is still valid until 2027, and there is usually a mid-term transfer premium in the winter window, if Liverpool wants to complete the deal in January, they are likely to need to offer far more than 50 million pounds.

"Bild" also mentioned that in addition to Schlotterbeck, Upamecano is also a candidate that Liverpool can consider. His contract with Bayern expires next summer and he may leave the team for free.

However, Xiao Ou feels that from Liverpool's perspective, Schlotterbeck is more suitable and his abilities are better. For example, in Germany's match against Northern Ireland this week, Schlotterbeck received a high score of 8 out of 10 from the data website FotMob. He won 3 of 5 ground duels and 5 of 6 aerial duels. There are still many problems with Pamecano, which may be exposed frequently under the pace of the Premier League.

As for whether this deal can be realized, Xiao Ou believes that it will take time to observe. Although Dortmund often sells cores at high prices, not everyone will sell them. Unless Dortmund is really unable to keep Schlotterbeck, it will never take the initiative to send him away. Even if he leaves the team, it is more likely to happen next summer.

Finally, do you think Schloterbeck has the ability to succeed Van Dijk?