The former Cardiff man will be available for the match at Anfield tonight
The signing of Steven Caulker occurred as quickly as any signing in recent memory yesterday, with minimum fuss and the press only picking up on it the morning he was signing.
Whether that signifies a change to how the club operates in the transfer market is yet to be seen, and the QPR man is only a loan signing, after all.
But for Jurgen Klopp, he is a very important loan signing and one that could have a big role to play through to the end of May.
Speaking to Liverpoolfc.com on Tuesday, following the 24 year old’s signing, Klopp said: “It was very important for us. In our situation, four weeks ago we didn’t know we’d have a problem with centre-halves because they were all in the race. At the start of the season, Joe Gomez was also in the squad, so a fifth centre-half – and then the situation changed completely.
“Now, we’ve had to make a decision whether we wanted to get another player for the position. The situation is Martin Skrtel is not available for around about the next four-and-a-half weeks, five weeks. Then we have the problem with Dejan – it’s only a little muscle injury. I think he’ll be available in one to one-and-a-half weeks. Then you have Mama with a little knee issue – he can play, but it’s not perfect and you cannot bring him three or four times in a row throughout the season. And it’s the same for Kolo and so would mean we are always in this situation, do we have enough or not? So we thought, ‘Yes, good idea’.
“We looked for Premier League experience because in this short time, you need that experience. We looked for a good header [of the ball] because that’s what we need – we want to play good pressing, we want to press the opponent and so they have to play long balls. If they play long balls, you need people in the last line who can help you with headers.
“And we’ve found it with Steven Caulker. He was not in the best situation in Southampton, didn’t play too much, but this is January and we want to have the best solution for us and we are absolutely convinced that Steven is the best solution for us.
“I am looking forward to working with him. He will be here today and then we can start working, so everything is good!”
The former Southampton loanee has always been highly thought of, having impressed at Spurs before making a surprise move to Cardiff in 2013. Which appears to be where his career entered a downward trajectory.
After struggling to win a regular starting place one the south coast this season though, Caulker will know that he will have few big chances left and will no doubt want to take his chance when it arrives. That chance could come as early as this evening against the Premier League leaders at Anfield.
