QPR defender Steven Caulker has emerged as a shock loan target for the Reds as Jurgen Klopp seeks to bolster his squad in the midst of a defensive injury crisis.
Caulker is currently on loan at Southampton but has struggled for game time and his last appearance came in December when he was taken apart by Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi in Liverpool’s 6-1 win at St Mary’s in the Capital One Cup.
For a deal to happen Southampton would have to terminate his season long loan deal and QPR would then have to accept an offer from the Reds.
Klopp is short handed in the centre of defence with Martin Skrtel and Dejan Lovren both sidelined with hamstring injuries and youngster Joe Gomez ruled out for the season with an ACL. While Mamadou Sakho is expected to return against Arsenal on Wednesday night after missing the previous two games, he has missed a lot of time with various injuries since joining the club in the summer of 2013 and his availability cannot be relied upon.
Should anything happen to Sakho that would leave Kolo Toure and Tiago Ilori as the only fit centre backs at the club and Klopp has been desperately looking for re-enforcements ever since Lovren was injured at Stoke.
Dortmund's Neven Subotic and Schalke's Joel Matip were both heavily linked but their clubs have seemingly proved reluctant to do business in January and Klopp has now been forced to turn his attentions to 24 year old Caulker, who has been capped once by England.
Caulker has frequently been linked with a move to Merseyside over recent years having worked with former Reds boss Brendan Rodgers when he was at Swansea. Rodgers was understood to be a big fan of the former Spurs defender but that interest never materialised into a serious offer and Caulker moved on to Cardiff where he was relegated, before joining QPR the following summer and once again being relegated. Perhaps Southampton want to cut their losses now in case he bags an unwanted hat-trick?
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