Former England coach Glenn Hoddle is convinced Jurgen Klopp will bite the bullet and insist Liverpool buy a new defender in January.
Liverpool manager Klopp is battling against a defensive injury crisis at Anfield. Senior centre-halves Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez have both undergone knee surgery and won't be seen until the end of the season - at the best estimate from club medical staff.
The dilemma facing Klopp is if he signs a new centre-half in January, will there be a place for the player in question when Van Dijk and Gomez return to action? For Hoddle, while acknowledging the issue, Liverpool and Klopp need to act if they want to end the season with silverware.
Speaking on his podcast, 'The Glenn Hoddle Footy Show', Hoddle declared: "Well, I think it's a big call for him (Klopp), I really do, because he can put players back there who lack experience, or he can put players there like Fabinho, who has done well, but is a midfield player.
"I think they'll look at it and think 'is this the reason we finished the season without winning the league?'. So I think they'll end up on the safe side and go out and buy a player.
"But it's never easy to buy in January. You never get the top, top players. But I think he'll want to play on the safe side and want numbers there. I think he'll try to bring someone in.
"They're getting all these injuries in the same area and that's a problem."
Hoddle believes Klopp will want to sign experience, knowing his young defenders like Nat Phillips and Rhys Williams are susceptible to the odd mistake.
He continued: "He'll try and get some security in there because young players can come in and do a good job in a short period of time, but there's going to be mistakes in them. There's no doubt about it. When you play against the top, top teams, week-in, week-out, they will be found out, just a little bit."
Referring to the 1-1 draw at Brighton on Saturday, which saw Neal Maupay miss from the spot in the first-half, Hoddle added: "The evidence is there when you look back at games.
"Jurgen is a good, experienced manager and will look back on it with his staff and say 'hang on a minute on another day we might have ended up losing that game'."
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