Liverpool’s speculative bid to get Tarkowski on loan has received expected response

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Liverpool have explored the possibility of a cheeky loan bid for Burnley’s James Tarkowski to ease their defensive injury crisis, according to the Sun.

They report that Jurgen Klopp is on the lookout for short-term reinforcements to his backline and has made a move for Tarkowski to ease his growing injury woes.

Dejan Lovren limped off early against Wolves on Monday night and Joel Matip and Joe Gomez are long-term absentees; but perhaps most worrying is the claim that Virgil van Dijk is suffering with a ‘mystery’ injury.

But Burnley have apparently slapped a huge £50m pricetag on the head of Tarkowski in order to deter Liverpool’s interest and have made it clear that a loan deal this month is not on the cards.

Tarkowski and Burnley have not been as impressive this season as last but it was still always speculative to expect the Clarets to let their best defender leave midway through the campaign with no money coming in with which to secure a replacement.

Liverpool might have hoped that the prospect of trading in a relegation battle for a title chase would entice the player himself; but Burnley were never likely to play ball and Tarkowski would still return to Turf Moor at the end of the season having turned his back on his team-mates in the battle for survival.

Left-field solutions may just get Klopp out of this defensive hole, but they will need to be more realistic than loaning Tarkowski.