Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool fell to just their third defeat in the Premier League this season at the weekend as Paul Clement’s Swansea side managed to create history by winning the first-ever game at Anfield in the history of the club.
Fernando Llorente’s brace pushed Liverpool out of the game at the weekend and kept them in the 4th place, 10 points off Chelsea at the top of the table.
The Reds are slowly losing ground in the title race and will have to play out of their skins to go anywhere for the rest of the season.
The manager meanwhile is looking at additions to the squad that can help them in the business end of the domestic season and one player Liverpool are now close to a move to is Sporting Lisbon midfielder, William Carvalho.
A defensive midfielder by trait, Carvalho was a part of the EURO16 winning team with Portugal and has been one of the most exciting players in his positions in Europe for a while now.
He joined the Portuguese club Sporting Lisbon back in 2011 has made 136 appearances in his time at the club. At 24, he is still a raw talent but with the amount of experience he has gathered already, he is a superb option for Liverpool who lacks a bit of depth in that area.
Emre Can, Jordan Henderson, Lucas Leiva and Kevin Stewart are the players who are currently preferred in that position and Carvalho is an upgrade on every name on the list.
The recent loss to Swansea, and the draw against Sunderland recently, have exposed a number of flaws in the Liverpool squad and the lack of a defensive midfielder who can control the game when needed has seen them falter all too often.
This has seen them extensively linked with a number of star players, including Geoffrey Kondogbia earlier in the transfer window.
However, they are now convinced that Carvalho is the man to take them forward and have already opened talks with the player.
Reports today suggest that the Reds have sent a representative to Lisbon to finalise the deal and that they are expecting to land the player for fees around £26m.
The Portuguese midfielder has been a transfer target for Arsenal for while now with Arsene Wenger, desperate for midfield additions but it now looks like Liverpool have stolen ahead in the race to sign the 24-year old.
Do you think Carvalho is a decent option for Liverpool?