Billy Koumetio could be Liverpool’s fourth choice centre-half next season
When Dejan Lovren’s move away from Merseyside was announced, it was unsurprisingly treated with cheers from a section of the Reds fans.
Despite all the good things he did for the club, it must be conceded that the mistakes far outweighed the positives. With the Croatian now gone for good, the next concern was finding a better and more secure player to replace him with.
Joe Gomez and Joel Matip are the two alternate centre-half options to play alongisde Virgil Van Dijk. But neither of them has shown enough to warrant an undroppable place in the side.
As good as Gomez has been, his inconsistency and rather erratic nature make utilising him in the bigger games a risk. Joel Matip, on the other hand, tends to be extremely polar with his performances – either unbeatable or completely invisible.
Finding a good balance is undoubtedly going to be of utmost importance to Jurgen Klopp going into the new season. And that’s perhaps why in-house solutions are also being considered.
Our desire to acquire a new central defender has been clear as day, but a report by James Pearce of The Athletic is claiming that Klopp has actually been impressed by the exploits of academy star Billy Koumetio.
Pearce commented on the player in a further tweet saying that Liverpool seem to be feel ‘pretty relaxed’ about the situation at hand. Whether or not Koumetio is the real deal remains to be seen. But if we’re able to see out the season without spending a massive chunk of money on another defender, then it could be for the best at the end of the day.
LFC seem pretty relaxed about the CB situation currently. He’s done that well that he could possibly be the 4th choice – but personally I still think they need another senior option in that department.
— James Pearce (@JamesPearceLFC) September 3, 2020
Even if Koumetio isn’t the greatest defenders in the world, his performances in the pre-season surely offered up a lot of positives.
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The 17-year-old is a former member of the Lyon academy and spent time at US Orleans. He joined us back in January of 2019 on a free transfer. Having represented France at the U18 level on a couple of occasions as well, it’s apparent that Koumetio is highly-rated in his home country as well.
Depending on a teenager from the start of the season would be far from ideal. But if we’re able to use him as a back-up and overcome this terrible economic period, then it would have to be considered quite the achievement.
