Liverpool’s deadline day business strengthened Jurgen Klopp’s squad.

The club made moves for two central defenders to fill the gaps in their squad following the injuries to Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, and Joel Matip.

Ozan Kabak came in on loan from Bundesliga club Schalke 04 while Ben Davies also arrived on a permanent deal from Preston North End.

However, it seems that an attempt was made to bring in a different defender on a big-money transfer.

Sport Witness carries a report from Sport Mediaset claiming that the Reds made a bid for Juventus defender Merih Demiral.

The 22-year-old has somewhat struggled for minutes in Serie A this season and has made just six starts.

Liverpool made an offer worth €57m (£50.1m) but the Italian club had no interest in letting the Turkey international move.

Kabak then became a target after the rejection, with the Reds sealing the deal for the Schalke star before the deadline.

GIVEMESPORT’S Harry Sherlock says…

This would have been a stunning deal.

Demiral is clearly an excellent centre-back and he is only 22.

In Serie A this season, he averages 0.9 tackles per game, 1.4 interceptions, three clearances, and a passing accuracy of 95.9%, per WhoScored.

This is an astute centre-half who does not dive in for the sake of it, and is able to read the game well.

Juve, though, were clearly in no mood to sell and, given his stats, one can understand why.