Liverpool's two new centre-backs: Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies
Kabak will join on loan for the rest of the season from Schalke with the option to buy while Davies was nearing the end of his contract at Preston North End.
Liverpool's ongoing injury crisis affecting their central defenders has forced Jürgen Klopp to enter the transfer market at the last minute. The Reds are expected to bring in two reinforcements - Ozan Kabak from Schalke and Ben Davies from Preston North End. Kabak, 20, will join for the remainder of the season with Liverpool retaining the option to buy him outright for 25 million euros. Schalke will not sell unless they find a direct replacement, which will most likely be Mustafi. The Turkish defender was one of Klopp's choices to fill in at the back where the team has been suffering an injury crisis which at times has seemed never-ending. The Reds manager has been forced to drop midfielders Fabinho and James Milner into the back four - and even had to throw youngsters Rhys Williams and Nathaniel Phillips into the deep end in recent outings.
Liverpool beat Celtic and Burnley to land Davies
Davies meanwhile has spent the last six seasons playing for Preston North End in the Championship. Liverpool will pay 2 million pounds for the 25-year-old, left-sided English defender who would have been able to leave on a free in June and had a verbal agreement in place with Celtic but changed his plans to become an emergency signing for the Premier League champions. Recent signing Sepp van den Berg forms part of the operation and moves in the opposite direction, joining Preston on loan until the end of the season.
Without Van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Joel Matip and after releasing Dejan Lovren over the summer, Liverpool have been left short-staffed in central defence for much of the campaign. It became evident in recent matches that the situation needed addressing - even though the club had not originally planned to bring any players in during the January window.