Premier League giants Liverpool are reportedly interested in signing Inter Milan centre-back Andrea Ranocchia in the January transfer window.
According to Football Italia, who cite talkSPORT and Calciomercato.it, Liverpool are keen to bring Italian defender Andrea Ranocchia to Anfield in January. Currently plying his trade at the San Siro with Inter Milan, the 28-year-old is reportedly admired by Reds manager Jurgen Klopp.
Three weeks on from the closure of the transfer window, Liverpool continue to be linked with a number of players. Given their injury problems in defence in the off-season, Klopp was on the hunt for a quality centre-back all summer.
The German manager convinced two Bundesliga centre-backs in Ragnar Klavan and Joel Matip to move to Anfield, but since their arrival, the duo have struggled with injuries and Klavan has failed to establish himself as a first-team regular.
Also, given the long-term injuries sustained by Mamadou Sakho and Joe Gomez, defensive midfielder Lucas was deployed as a centre-back in Liverpool’s game against Leicester City recently. The Brazilian had a torrid outing and made a critical error that led to a goal for the Foxes.
The signing of a centre-back must therefore be of immense importance to Jurgen Klopp. While Ranocchia has shown signs of promise in various stages of his career, he may not quite be at the level that Liverpool require.
At the start of the 2014/15 season, Ranocchia was appointed the new Inter captain due to the retirement of Javier Zanetti. In his first season as captain, he played in all but five of his side’s 38 league appearances and was instrumental for the Nerazzurri. However, to the amusement of many, he was forced to relinquish his captain’s armband to the club’s young and upcoming star Mauro Icardi.
This ultimately proved to be the beginning of the end of the defender’s Inter career. In the following season, he was restricted to only one start and was loaned out to Sampdoria in January. He also does not seem to be a part of Frank de Boer’s long-term plans at the San Siro and the Dutch manager may consider selling him to Liverpool in January if the Reds’ offer is right.
