Liverpool will replace Virgil van Dijk next summer for just €60m
· Yahoo Sports
Liverpool are in the midst of a full defensive rebuild, and its going to take a number of transfer windows to complete.
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Giovanni Leoni, Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez all arrived last summer, and a deal is in place to bring Jeremy Jacquet to Anfield ahead of next season.
Ibrahima Konate and Andy Robertson are both into the final few months of their contracts and could depart this summer, but another concern for Richard Hughes will be the future of Virgil van Dijk.
Liverpool’s captain has just over a year left on his deal, but the skipper will be 35 this summer and the time may have come to consider replacements.
Liverpool have perfect Virgil van Dijk succession plan
Van Dijk has continued to show he can operate at a truly elite level this season, and Arne Slot will hope that can be maintained next season too, but it feels unlikely Virgil will extend his stay beyond his current deal.
With that in mind, the summer of 2027 is likely when the club will be looking to replace their defensive talisman, and transfer insider Fabrizio Romano recently revealed the perfect option.
According to Romano, Nico Schlotterbeck is on the verge of agreeing a new deal with Borussia Dortmund that will run until 2031, but the German defender will have a release clause of €60-65 million (~£52-56.5m) that activates in the summer of 2027.
This will be music to the ears of Liverpool’s recruitment team.
Schlotterbeck is a left-footed central defender who has shown consistently over the last few seasons that he is capable of playing at an extremely high level.
He fits the profile Liverpool will be looking for when the time comes to replace Van Dijk, the only issue is Schlotterbeck’s age.
At 26-years-old, Schlotterbeck is marginally older than the type of player Liverpool typically go for, and the German will be 27 by the time his release clause activates.