Centre Back - Matthijs de Ligt
At the start of the season, Virgil Van Dijk and Joe Gomez were the best defensive partnership in the league. A pair blessed with pace, passing ability and power, it almost seemed that they could've broken Chelsea's defensive record of 2004-05 by conceding lesser than 15 goals this season.
But a season-disrupting injury to Gomez put aside all hopes of this. Van Dijk has had to partner with various others in central defense. And the expected output occurred, Liverpool started conceding goals more often than not. Joel Matip, although cultured on the ball can be slightly slow while defending counters and is ravaged by injuries, Lovren, on the other hand, can go from being one of the best center backs in the world on his day to being fit for a Championship side on other days.
It is clear that a new central defender is needed and all fingers point towards Ajax's captain and Holland's new star, Matthijs De Ligt.
It feels sensible for Liverpool to make a move for the star defender because of his Dutch connection with his would-be center back partner Van Dijk and also the fact that he can get to learn from one of the best in the world if he moved to Liverpool. That means that Gomez can fill in at right back as it seems that Alexander Arnold will play in the Liverpool midfield in the years to come. It also gives them a chance to play with a back three when chasing a game.