Liverpool will start 2025 at the top of the Premier League and Champions League tables, but January reinforcements are not expected.
The January transfer window opens on Wednesday and will only close on February 3, affording clubs ample time to address any needs ahead of the run-in.
For Liverpool, though, movement is not to be expected with the Mail‘s Lewis Steele reporting that the club “will likely spend the next month or so setting up moves for the summer and hold their nerve this window.”
As was the case in the summer, Richard Hughes and Co. will be “opportunistic” if the chance arises, but Steele states there are “no concrete targets for this month.”
It will certainly not be a popular stance as Liverpool have the opportunity to build from a position of strength, and recent centre-back injuries suggest reinforcements would not go amiss.
Everton centre-back Jarrad Branthwaite was “definitely a target in the summer” but their recent takeover has negated any desperate need to sell one of their brightest young players.
The club will surely have eyes on any movement in the midfield department having strongly chased Martin Zubimendi throughout the summer.
The Spaniard has been mooted to be coming to terms with the idea of leaving boyhood club Real Sociedad, though recently explained his “selfish” reasons for rejecting a move to Anfield.
Liverpool will have a close eye on him with the likes of Man City also credited with interest but, in the words of Steele, the club have money but “will not spend for the sake of it.”
The Reds’ last mid-season signing was Cody Gakpo in 2023, and the arrivals of Luis Diaz (2022), Takumi Minamino (2020) and Virgil van Dijk (2018) show the club are at least willing to act.
What has Arne Slot said?
At the start of December, Slot told reporters that he and Liverpool’s transfer staff are in “discussions every day” over possible targets and the chance to be opportunistic.
He said: “We are having discussions every day, no matter if there is a window coming up or not.
“We always talk about the team, which players we like, which players are maybe not in the best place – fortunately we talk more about the ones who do well, because almost all of them do really well.”
He went on to add: “I said many times at the beginning of the season, I’m so, so happy with the squad we have.
“That’s not to say that if there will be a chance in the market [we won’t sign anyone].
“This club has always shown that they are going for it.”
