It's the debate that has raged all summer at Liverpool, so Jurgen Klopp will already be anticipating external talk over his midfield growing louder as we edge towards the end of the transfer window.
Even when the Reds boss had a full complement of midfielders available to him he was fielding talk of furthering strengthening a nine-man department, speculation which the manager vehemently disagreed with in trademark style when speaking to a group of journalists at the AXA Training Centre last month.
"I don’t think something will happen in midfield, but you never know. If somebody comes to you and says ‘I want to go’," Klopp said on the eve of Liverpool's flight out to Thailand in mid-July. "Nobody came to me yet, but if that happens then we have to talk [again]. But if the situation stays like it is, then tell me why?
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"I don’t understand. I do not understand. People told me about this discussion, but the last thing that would have crossed my mind is that we have to do this [sign a midfielder]. I know all these things, that we don’t score enough goals from midfield, this and that, but what do we want? This ‘Golden Cow’ that is producing absolutely everything, milk as well!"
Expanding on the topic, Klopp detailed the respective qualities of his midfield that he felt made the blend of his engine room an ideal one for how his team operate as a whole.
"We can go through it," he continued. "Where do you want to start? So, Fabinho, Henderson, Thiago, Milner, Keita, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho, Oxlade-Chamberlain. Now you tell me what kind of player are we missing? One who is offensive, 1.95m [tall] and arrives into the box to head balls in? OK, apart from that!
"We have three players in the squad who can easily play as a No.6 - Fabinho, of course, but Hendo and Milly played it fine. Creativity? If we bring in a player just for that, we immediately make it more difficult for Harvey, Curtis and Fabio.
"They can all play different positions as well of course, Curtis can play a line higher and Harvey and Fabio can play there too. Fine. We can play a different system as well, where we might only need two midfielders, but then all these guys can play as a No.10 in the new system. So where is the need for a midfielder? The day when somebody comes to me and tells me why exactly."
Having seen his team get 92 Premier League points while also appearing in the Champions League final after winning both domestic cups, Klopp was arguing on stable ground. Some six weeks later, however, the picture looks a little different. With four of that nine-man group currently sidelined with injuries, Liverpool's options are being stretched to breaking point already.
Thiago Alcantara, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Naby Keita all find themselves on the treatment table alongside Curtis Jones, whose "stress reaction" to a calf problem goes on. For many who have banged the drum for transfers all summer, it is bittersweet vindication, even if Klopp's assertion that five-year contracts cannot be handed out to new players as cover for a few weeks of injuries is valid.
"When [every midfielder is] fit, 100% [we have enough numbers], but even then we always look to strengthen, but we have to and we always did [make sure] that it must be the right player and if the right player is not available at this moment then we tend to deal with what we have rather than sign a player who is not 100% right," Klopp said last week.
"This situation did not change. Now we have more injuries than we would have imagined and it would be cool to have another midfielder in, of course. But now we have a situation that when the boys come back and stuff like these it changes constantly. Then there is also another fact that I am not in charge of what we can spend. That's the situation. We get told things and then we deal with it. That is always the same."
It's a delicate situation that Liverpool find themselves in with less than a week left of the transfer window. Links, inevitably, have sprung up left and right with names like Youri Tielemans, Leandro Paredes and even Barcelona's Frenkie de Jong - a long-standing target for Manchester United - named in connection with the Reds.
Of course, given that overtures were made to Monaco before it was accepted that Aurelien Tchouameni had his heart set on Real Madrid, Liverpool, contrary to populist belief, do not have their fingers in ears and their eyes closed when it comes to external candidates who can improve the team.
Klopp, though, is insistent that the "right player" must be a first choice in the mould of Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker, players the Liverpool boss admitted needed to be "slam dunks" due to their combined outlay of £140m across the two windows of 2018.
Looking further down the line, though, a more long-term problem is approaching than just a handful of injured players and their respective recoveries. With Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain and vice-captain James Milner all in the final 12 months of their deals at Anfield, the question is how Klopp, sporting director Julian Ward and the recruitment team countenance the potential loss of all three?
Liverpool are hopeful of retaining Keita beyond his current terms, it is understood, despite reports in Germany claiming the No.8 is unhappy with a lack of game-time. Representatives of the club met with the Guinea international's agent, Bjorn Bezemer, earlier this month in Spain and are believed to retain a good working relationship with the man who also looks after Sadio Mane's contractual interests.
The latest injury setback for Keita, which came after illness ruled him out of the season-opener at Fulham, meant Klopp was unable to call upon his £52m midfielder at a time when he was desperately needed at Old Trafford however. It's a lamentable situation for all concerned.
It's also interesting to note that Keita remains tethered to the same terms he initially signed in 2017 before his eventual arrival in 2018, while almost everyone else within the Liverpool squad has penned an extension during that time-frame. A performance-related review has seemingly never been broached due to an inability to nail down a long-term place in the 11.
The potential loss of Oxlade-Chamberlain and Milner, who will be 37 in January, does at least open the prospect of replacements next summer, even if Keita does sign on for longer than he is slated to currently.
Given the dwindling game-time for Oxlade-Chamberlain - a player whose most recent Reds appearance came in March - and the age of Milner, whose new contract included a significant pay-cut earlier this year due to a reduced role as a starter, Klopp and his staff may have to look towards more than just the one addition at some stage.
It's understood any potential business at Liverpool between now and deadline day is being viewed as opportunistic as the merry-go-round of player trading picks up pace this week. There is, however, an acceptance that the limited talent pool available to improve Klopp's squad makes a deal unlikely at this stage.
At some point, however, the age-old midfield debate will need addressing by club owners Fenway Sports Group and Liverpool's much-vaunted recruitment team. Kicking it down the road may only make the job more difficult when that time comes.
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