Liverpool bolster defence with deadline-day deal

Liverpool finally bolstered their defensive options by signing Schalkes Ozan Kabak and Prestons Ben Davies before the Premier League transfer window slammed shut on MondayMeanwhile Premier League champions Japanese attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino left for Southampton on loan until the end of the season in one of the few moves between Premier League clubs on a quiet deadline day The January window is regarded as a sellers market and often a time for stopgap measures but Liverpool were forced to act The champions are missing all of their senior central defenders with Virgil van Dijk Joe Gomez and Joel Matip out of actionFabinho who had impressed at centreback after moving from his usual midfield position recently joined the injured list while captain Jordan Henderson who usually plays in midfield has been forced to deputise at the back Japanese international Minamino departed Anfield for Southampton in a surprise move allowed to be completed after the window shut because the Saints had submitted the necessary paperwork in timeI am very pleased to welcome Takumi to our squad for the rest of this season Southampton manager Ralph Hasenhuttl said in club statement issued two hours after the 2300 GMT deadline He will help provide another good attacking option and is importantly the right profile of player for us This will give us some additional depth in our squad at an important time Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp had been suggesting for several weeks that a replacement centreback would be a major lift for his team Klopp got his wish at last as the Reds brought in two defenders in the final hours of the transfer window Kabak joined on loan until the end of the season subject to international clearanceThe Premier League champions have paid an initial pound1 million 137 million loan fee with the option to buy for pound18 million at the end of the season The 20yearold arrives after two years in the Bundesliga where he played for Stuttgart before joining Schalke in July 2019 He previously gained Champions League experience at Galatasaray and has won seven caps for Turkey Davies 25 signed for an initial fee believed to be pound500000 plus future addons Klopp conceded signing a relatively unknown player from the second tier was a move forced by financial restraints of the pandemic and Liverpools injury woes Its probably clear that in a normal transfer window without any issues we would not look at Preston if theres a player for us he said But since we saw him and since our situation got clearer and clearer the problems we had when we saw him we got really excited about it and thought Wow We see the quality and we see the potential Davies made 145 appearances for Preston scoring two goals since his debut in 2013Lowspending windowObviously it came as a bit of a surprise when it first came out but once you start to get your head around it the opportunity that is in front of me is incredible Davies said Ive never actually been to Anfield and I havent had a look around yet Major moves involving Big Six Premier League clubs were few and far between in the January window Topflight clubs who splashed the cash in the summer transfer window are reeling from the financial fallout as a result of the Covid19 crisis and are coming to terms with new Brexit rules that make it tougher to recruit young players from Europe The last time less than Acircpound100 million was spent in the January transfer window was 2012 Arsenal allowed Shkodran Mustafi to leave with the German defender signing a shortterm contract at SchalkeGedson Fernandes ended his disappointing spell at Tottenham with the midfielders loan from Benfica cancelled so he could join Galatasaray Relegationthreatened West Bromwich Albion signed Turkey midfielder Okay Yokuslu on loan from Celta Vigo until the end of the season West Brom also agreed a deal with Arsenal to take the versatile Ainsley MaitlandNiles on loan until the end of this term Ecuador international Moises Caicedo joined Brighton from Independiente del Valle for a fee of around Acircpound4 million Newcastle signed Arsenal midfielder Joe Willock on loan for the rest of the season while Magpies rightback DeAndre Yedlin joined Galatasaray in a permanent deal Fulham landed former Sunderland forward Josh Maja on loan from French side Bordeaux Everton were hoping to sign Bournemouth striker Josh King in a late dealThis story has been sourced from a third party syndicated feed agencies Midday accepts no responsibility or liability for its dependability trustworthiness reliability and data of the text Midday managementmiddaycom reserves the sole right to alter delete or remove without notice the content in its absolute discretion for any reason whatsoever