An impossible mission, Liverpool trying to intervene in an operation to get it for little money

At the start of December, Liverpool was pretty much perfectly placed with its center-half ranks. Virgil van Dijk, Joël Matip and Joe Gomez were all in resurgent form after falling well short of their best during the Reds' miserable 2022/23 campaign, Ibrahima Konaté was fit again and youngster Jarell Quansah had broken through as an unexpected but valuable additional option.

But then Matip sustained a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury in the 4-3 win over Fulham and Kostas Tsimikas broke his collarbone in the 1-1 draw with Arsenal, forcing Gomez to deputise at left-back with Andy Robertson still out too. All of a sudden, Liverpool looks stretched at the heart of its defense, and may be regretting its failure to acquire a reinforcement in the summer. Just one more injury would present a significant problem.

One player Liverpool reportedly considered was then-Wolfsburg center-back Micky van de Ven. According to TEAMtalk, Van de Ven was one of the club's top targets and, as part of its charm offensive, captain and compatriot Van Dijk spoke to him to try and convince him to make the move to Anfield. In the end, however, Spurs simply 'moved faster' and was able to tie up a deal worth $55m.

Up until he suffered an injury of his own in early November, Van de Ven was in excellent form for Spurs, working his way into both the signing-of-the-summer conversation and, for the first time, the Dutch senior side. Ange Postecoglou still clearly feels he's a body short, though, and that's why he's launched a move for Genoa's Radu Drăgușin, who is valued at around $33m.

It's never too late to succeed

The 2023 Romanian Footballer of the Year, he ranks third in the league for aerial duels won (57) and has come out on top in exactly two thirds of his duels overall, which places him fourth among defenders who have played at least 10 games. Indeed, he's only been dribbled past once all season (with the same criteria in effect), ranking him second. While his on-ball numbers this season aren't especially noteworthy in a league-wide context, it's worth noting that he's playing for a newly promoted team that currently sits in 12th place in the table.