Football Transfers
Liverpool have completed a loan deal for Schalke’s Turkey central defender Ozan Kabak.
The 20-year-old joins the Reds until the end of the season, with the club also having signed Preston North End’s Ben Davies for £2m.
Defender Davies, 25, has signed a “long-term” deal at Anfield.
Marseille’s Duje Caleta-Car was also a potential target, with the Reds exploring a number of options in defence because of injuries.
Liverpool have an option to buy Kabak for £18m – with add-on clauses – at the end of the season, but do not need to activate it until June.
For now, they will pay a £1m loan fee now with the potential for an extra £500,000 based on games played and how they fare in the Champions League.
The Reds are missing experienced centre-backs, with Joel Matip out for the rest of the season and Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez out with long-term injuries, while midfielder Fabinho, who has been standing in at the back, is also out.
Manager Jurgen Klopp named his 12th different centre-half partnership in 21 Premier League games for Sunday’s 3-1 win at West Ham, with midfielder Jordan Henderson alongside Nathaniel Phillips.
On the arrival of Davies from Championship side Preston, Klopp said: “It’s probably clear that in a normal transfer window, without any issues, we would not look at Preston [to see] if there’s a player for us or something like that.
“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 as well because he’s 25 and there’s a lot to come for him.”
Kabak was recommended by former Huddersfield Town manager David Wagner, who coached him at Schalke and worked with Liverpool boss Klopp at fellow Bundesliga side Borussia Dortmund.
Before joining Schalke, Kabak played for Stuttgart and won the German top flight’s Rookie of the Year award for the 2018-19 season despite the club being relegated.
Stuttgart’s sporting director Thomas Hitzlsperger, the former Aston Villa midfielder, said it was “incredible how worldy-wise he is for his age”.
“It’s astonishing,” Hitzlsperger added. “I see him every day and am amazed at how he mature he is.”
Kabak, whose idol is Van Dijk, has played 14 times for Schalke this season, although the club are bottom of the table with the worst defensive record in the league.
Liverpool were linked with the Turk last summer after the departure of Dejan Lovren.
After Kabak arrived in the Bundesliga in 2019, he quickly became one of the most promising centre-back talents in the league.
Sadly for him, he was not always able to show his full potential, as he was relegated with Stuttgart before joining a dysfunctional Schalke side.
Still, Kabak impressed many with his defensive skill set. He has been called the “Turkish Wall” because of his abilities in duels both on the ground and in the air.
His ball-playing talents have not been tested that much because Schalke often avoided any kind of constructive build-up. Kabak looks like a competent passer but he might need some time to adapt to Liverpool’s possession-based system.
While he is a tremendous talent, Kabak gained a reputation in Germany for having a hot temperament.
He was suspended for four games earlier this season for spitting in the direction of Werder Bremen left-back Ludwig Augustinsson.
Given that he is only 20, he will still be growing a lot as a player and as a personality. And so, despite the hype, coaches, team-mates and fans will have to show patience with him.
