After hesitating for a long time, Liverpool recorded two defensive reinforcements on Monday, on the last day of the winter transfer window with the arrivals of Ben Davies from Preston North End (Championship / D2) and Turkish Ozan Kabak, on loan from Schalke.
Two arrivals all the more welcome as Jürgen Klopp also announced Monday evening that Cameroonian defender Joël Matip would be unavailable for the rest of the season due to a ligament injury to an ankle.
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In this sector of play, the Reds are already deprived, for varying durations, of Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez or Fabinho.
Ozan Kabak’s loan runs until the end of the season and the Reds don’t mention a buy option, but the English press assure Liverpool have the option to make the transfer final for around € 20m , which can go up to almost 30 with bonuses.
Kabak should not arrive in Liverpool until “later in the week,” the club said in its statement. He will therefore not be available for the game against Brighton on Wednesday and possibly not for the clash against Manchester City on Sunday.
Trained in Galatassaray, Kabak joined Germany and Stuttgart in January 2019, before being transferred in the summer to the Gelsenkirchen club.
Kabak has the advantage, despite his young age, of having already tasted the Champions League with Galatasaray (4 matches) in 2018.
He also has seven national team caps.
To ensure Kabak’s arrival, Liverpool derailed a well-started deal with Newcastle, just as they had been invited into negotiations between Celtic Glasgow and Preston North End (Championship / D2) to snatch defender Ben Davies, whose arrival had been announced shortly before.
Davies, 25, bought for just over 2 million euros, is a surprise recruit on the Anfield Road side.
“It’s a huge opportunity. Obviously, it was a surprise when it was mentioned for the first time, but from the moment we start to have it in mind, this opportunity which is offered to me is incredible ”, admitted the player, quoted in the communicated.
“It is obvious that in a normal transfer window, without problems, we would not look at Preston if there is a player who interests us”, admitted Jürgen Klopp on the club site.
But “he’s a really good footballer, who was a real leader for Preston, good in duels, smart in the game and who can play in different positions because he played in three or four defenses”, detailed the German.
