Former Arsenal midfielder Ray Parlour believes Liverpool should offer club reject Mamadou Sakho as part of a swap deal for Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk, according to The Daily Star.
Speaking on talkSPORT, the former three-time Premier League winner explained:
“You look at the situation, Sakho went to Crystal Palace (on loan) last year. He’s a defender who you could maybe throw in (to a deal)”
He continued: “You could say ‘Saints we could have a swap deal’, Sakho for Van Dijk with a bit of money on top.”
Sakho has been frozen out of Jurgen Klopp’s plans as a result of a number of incidents, including getting sent home in Liverpool’s pre-season tour of the United States last summer for reasons undisclosed, per ESPN.
After submitting a transfer request earlier this month, Van Dijk has yet to feature for the Saints this season and is currently training with the club’s under-23 squad, according to The Daily Star.
Juventus have recently penned their interest in the Holland international as the Serie A champions search for a replacement for centre-back Leonardo Bonucci who left for AC Milan earlier this summer.
Parlour went on to state how important having a good defence is in a title-challenging season:
“To win the league you have to be solid at times in games. Especially in Europe you have teams very good going forward,” he stated.
Liverpool have conceded six goals in four games in both the Premier League Champions League play-offs already this season. Conversely, however, they have netted ten times in an out-scoring type of mindset not too dissimilar to the Reds’ infamous 2014/15 league campaign – but we all know how that ended.