Liverpool are sitting pretty at the top of the Premier League table by a staggering 16-point margin over Manchester City.
Jurgen Klopp’s side remain undefeated in the top-flight so far this season and are currently enjoying a 14-match winning streak.
But despite their comfortable dominance, the Reds have seen fit to dip into the transfer market this January.
Two fresh faces have arrived since the beginning of the New Year: attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino from Red Bull Salzburg and Brentford striker Joe Hardy for the under-23s.
The former made his Premier League debut in Thursday’s 2-1 win over Wolves at Molineux, and it’s safe to say Klopp was suitably impressed with the Japanese playmaker.
“He’s exactly the player we expected to get – super, super boy, super player,” Klopp said, per the official Liverpool website.
“You saw so many things of his ability last night. This game last night was a proper fight and he was completely ready for that.
“For him, [it’s] still kind of a new environment with a new team and then really adapting. From a tactical point of view, it was an outstanding game. That’s what we see in training.
“In training then we see, of course, more of all the finishing stuff, the creating stuff. It’s just the player we wanted and now he’s ours.”
Klopp appears to be keen on investing more than just the £10 million required to bring in his two January signings to date, though.
According to Italian outlet El Desmarque, via the Mirror, Liverpool have been linked with a move for Napoli midfielder Fabian Ruiz after reportedly having a £47 million bid for Real Madrid’s Isco turned down.
Despite Isco being only a bit-part player under Zinedine Zidane, Los Blancos’ reluctance to let him go without generous compensation has forced the Reds to focus their efforts on Ruiz.
The 23-year-old has emerged as one of the best midfielders in Europe since joining from Real Betis in 2018 and is expected to be part of Spain’s Euro 2020 squad this summer.
Worryingly for Gennaro Gattuso’s side, though, reports suggest Ruiz is one of several star players who are unhappy with club chairman Aurelio de Laurentiis after the squad were fined for refusing to attend a training camp, per the Mail.
However, such is Ruiz’s importance to Napoli, Liverpool can expect to be asked to fork out significantly more than the £47 million they offered Madrid for Isco.
While the Reds’ squad is pretty difficult to find fault with right now, there’s no question Ruiz would add another layer of quality to an already impressive midfield.
