Would you welcome this England international to the club?

According to Givemefootball.com, despite not having a manager, Liverpool are still interested in signing West Ham defender Matthew Upson. Whether this interest comes from either Sammy Lee or Kenny Dalglish we don’t know but there appears to be some desire on Liverpool’s part to continue the chase of the England international. Former boss Rafa Benitez had been keeping tabs on the defender but any transfer to the Reds would have seemingly been scuppered by the Spanish manager’s departure. But if the rumours were to be true, and Liverpool were still interested, would we actually need him?

The first stumbling block would of course be the price. As a regular in the England squad and an experienced Premier League player, you would expect Upson to cost in the eight figure mark. There are however some interesting factors that could take down the market value of the player significantly. Upson’s contract ends next season and if he doesn’t sign a new one, the Hammers could not afford him to go for free on a Bosman next summer. Especially with the London club £120m in debt, there are certain financial motivations to sell Upson relatively cheaply rather than for nothing, and with the new manager Avram Grant now in place, we can expect a few changes in the playing squad before next season. Co-chairman David Sullivan has already said everyone is up for sale bar Scott Parker, so it would not be surprising if Liverpool’s scouts were keeping tabs on the player. Another important factor is that at 31 years of age, Upson is not getting any younger, and cash-strapped West Ham may want to get rid of him before his value diminishes further.

But do we really need another defender, especially if he is 31 years old? We already have top class centre backs in Daniel Agger, Martin Skrtel and Jamie Carragher, why would need another one? The facts are though, one of the fundamental reasons we had such a poor season last campaign was because of our poor defensive record. We conceded 2 or more goals 12 times during the season, a statistic that won’t help when you are trying to win a league title. Rafa was aware of the Reds shortcomings last summer after the departure of Sami Hyypia, and he brought in Sotirios Kyrgiakos to fill the void. At £1.5m the Greek defender certainly did a job for us but he is not a player you would rely on to play every game at the back. The lack of pace can really hamper his and Liverpool’s game, and while Upson might not be the fastest in the world, he could have done a job either alongside Carragher or Agger.

With Daniel Agger and Martin Skrtel as injury prone as they can be, another defender who has the experience to play 30+ matches in the Premier League could only help matters during a long painful season to keep the pressure off Jamie Carragher who at 32 is no spring chicken himself. While Upson is not young and has had his own injury problems, one other crucial factor most be considered, Upson is English, and would increase the number of home-grown players in the side to meet the Premier League’s newly formulated quota system.

The West Ham and England centre-back should certainly not be a priority for any new Liverpool manager, but if there is a possibility of a relatively cheap acquisition, it could prove to be a pretty good piece of business in the short term, helping to shore up our backline and providing a solid foundation for next season’s campaign.

Follow us on twitter @live4Liverpool

Live4Liverpool is recruiting columnists. For further info contact the site editor at editor@live4liverpool.com