Liverpool one step ahead of Manchester United in the race to sign a top defender in January

Jürgen Klopp would be focused on improving the Liverpool weaknesses in the next few weeks to have the team ready for the second part of the season, where the Reds will still fight to conquer up four trophies both in English and European competitions, which will require a massive effort from the manager and the club’s sporting direction to have a solid squad for it.

In this sense, the German manager would have already identified several targets to sign, and he would be willing to trigger the release clause of them to seal the correspondent agreements in the transfer market window to have the players soon in Anfield to strengthen the squad.

According to the French journal Nice Matin, part of Liverpool’s efforts in the market would have ended up with the Reds being one step ahead of Manchester United in the race for the signing of the 24-year-old center back Jean Clair Todibo from OGC Nice, a top target for Erik Ten Hag at the Mancunian rival of the Anfield team who could be really close to sign for the Klopp’s side though.

Liverpool could pay at least €50 million for the player

Following these sources, Liverpool would require to pay at least €50 million for Todibo, which could force the Reds to wait until the summer to get the deal done regarding the potential financial difficulties that a signing like that could present to the Anfield institution at this point of the season, with the Merseyside club trying to avoid breaching the UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations.