Liverpool may have saved more than £50 million by signing Virgil van Dijk.

Liverpool may have saved more than £50 million by signing Virgil van Dijk.

Liverpool are largely expected to sign a new central defender during the January transfer window.

Given Jarell Quansah’s success in the absence of his injured teammate, Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp may have already replaced Joel Matip without paying a single pound. The 20-year-old, who has recently been praised by Virgil van Dijk, has adapted well to life in the spotlight at Liverpool after capitalizing on his opportunities to impress.

With a succession of excellent performances in Liverpool’s back line, the former Bristol Rovers loanee has successfully fought his way into regular contention. He has started two of his team’s past four Premier League games and assisted Van Dijk in keeping a clean sheet against Burnley on Boxing Day.

To finish off another successful outing for the Reds, Quansah won nine headers against the Clarets, more than any other player on the pitch, and completed 87% of his passes. Van Dijk singled him out for special appreciation after the final whistle, promising to assist Quansah in his quest to become a sure-fire starter.

“Jarell Quansah is a fantastic talent and up-and-coming,” Van Dijk remarked. “He’s been improving since his debut, which is encouraging.” That appeals to me, and if I can assist him, I will. I’m thrilled for him.”

The quick development of Quansah at Liverpool could end up saving the Reds a lot of money in the upcoming January transfer window. They are largely expected to sign a new central defender to replace Matip, who is expected to miss the rest of the season after suffering a major knee injury.

Sporting defender Goncalo Inacio has been linked with Liverpool, although he is reputedly worth £52 million, with the Portuguese giants refusing to sell for less than his entire release clause. However, it appears like Quansah has already emerged as Matip’s ready-made replacement, perhaps saving Liverpool a significant sum of money.

“It’s a shame what happened to Joel, and my condolences go with him,” Quansah said earlier this month, “but my idea was to try and get over him anyway and try to be a starting centre-back in the Premier League at the end of the day.”

I’m just trying, and each chance I get, hopefully more, I’m just trying to really push on and be the best centre-back I can be.”

Meanwhile, Klopp recently revealed that he was surprised by Quansah’s progress this season after spending the previous campaign on loan with Bristol Rovers in League One.

“If you would have asked me in pre-season that he would have been that good I would have been surprised,” remarked Brendan Rodgers, the manager of Liverpool. “But since then, I have seen him every day and I am not surprised about it anymore because I know from the first day of pre-season how good a player he will be.”