Ben Guest
Liverpool legend Sir Kenny Dalglish has backed Jurgen Klopp to ‘make the right decision’ when it comes to resolving the club’s injury crisis.
The reigning Premier League champions hopes of winning back-to-back titles have been dealt with two major blows, Virgil van Dijk’s lengthy spell on the sidelines with an ACL injury being compounded by another knee injury to his defensive partner, Joe Gomez.
Both are likely to miss the vast majority, if not all of the 2020/21 campaign, leaving Joel Matip as the clubs only senior central defender.
Naturally, Liverpool have been linked with dipping into the transfer market in the upcoming January window, though club legend Dalglish reckons whatever decision Jurgen Klopp makes will be in the best interest of the club.
“I’m trusting the manager to make the right decision – he has done so far!” the Scot told the Liverpool Echo.
“It’s a really unfortunate thing, the transfer window is closed and we’ve picked up a few serious injuries and the likes of Thiago are still out too. But in Jurgen, we trust.
“There’s no problem as he will make the right decision – the two boys in [Rhys] Williams and [Nat] Phillips did really well when they came in for the games they played.
“The manager has got options in those two but if it’s possible to get a free transfer in then he might think that’s the best route, but whatever he decides is the best route for Liverpool.”
While the likes of David Alaba and Dayot Upamecanohave been linked as potential targets, Dalglish has been impressed with the performances of academy prospects Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips when they have been afforded first-team chances.
“It’s difficult for anybody to step in, but at 19 years of age Williams didn’t do too badly against Atalanta!” he added.
“He was there and stood up, the first header he cleared everybody out and made sure it was his and Nat Phillips did well in the game at Anfield as well.
“Whether they’re ready long-term it remains to be seen, but Nat was over in Germany on loan last season and did really well so maybe he is a little bit more experienced.
“As I say though, you’ve got a couple of choices there – they’ll want to play.
“It might not be perfect timing for them because the next game is difficult against Leicester but Jurgen gets most of his decisions right and I have no doubt he’ll get this one right too.”
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