This is the reality, with the club currently down to three fit senior centre halves including captain Virigil van Dijk, soon to be out of contract Ibrahima Konate, and injury-prone Joe Gomez. Meanwhile, chatter out of Germany further suggests his wage demands are seen as excessive by Bayern Munich and as such he isn’t a target despite being one of the nation’s top centre halves and a regular in the national team. In addition to Liverpool, Manchester United and Tottenham have been linked. From a Liverpool point of view, Schlotterbeck checks the boxes as a centre half who could replace Konate in the lineup if the French international moves on this summer when his contract expires. Whether that makes their interest genuine or just rumour monger chatter is, for now, a different question.

Source: The Guardian January 22, 2026 01:17 UTC