Liverpool are in need of defensive reinforcements with only two fit senior centre-backs, and three players have been name-checked, including Marc Guehi’s teammate.

For all of Liverpool’s spending in the summer, they are in need of a new addition at centre-back and arguably depth in the forward line in January.

Antoine Semenyo is nearing a move to Man City, but the Mail‘s Lewis Steele claims Liverpool “may be ready to pounce to hijack any deal,” though that has been dismissed elsewhere.

At the other end of the pitch, though, Steele notably links Crystal Palace‘s Maxence Lacroix, Club Brugge’s Joel Ordonez, and Brentford‘s Nathan Collins to Liverpool.

And this is not the first time the trio have been linked.

Liverpool’s defensive scouting: A quick look

• Defensive targets: Maxence Lacroix, Joel Ordonez and Nathan Collins have been name-checked as players Liverpool are tracking.

• Strategic depth: With only two fit senior centre-backs, the club is monitoring profiles ranging from homegrown options to versatile youngsters.

• Guehi wait: Liverpool reportedly prefer to wait until the summer for Marc Guehi, potentially necessitating a stop-gap January addition.

2 of the 3 defenders were linked last summer

In reporting that Liverpool “would prefer now to wait until the summer” to sign Guehi, Steele goes on to name-check the three defenders as he underlines the need for depth in January.

Lacroix, 25, has been “discussed in the past” by Liverpool and has played alongside Guehi 66 times at Palace since he joined the club in 2024 from Wolfsburg.

The club were previously linked late in 2023 after Joel Matip‘s ACL injury, but the right-sided centre-back would move to Selhurst Park the following summer for £18 million.

Ordonez, meanwhile, is a player Steele notes Liverpool “have kept an eye on, especially before they signed Leoni,” with the 21-year-old having already amassed nearly 150 games in the top two flights of Belgian football.

The young defender is already a key player for Brugge and is also capable of playing at right-back, versatility that Liverpool have shown they are in need of.

Collins will be a little more familiar to many due to plying his trade exclusively in England, starting at Stoke before stops at Burnley and Wolves prior to joining Brentford in 2023.

He has been “mooted as a potential defensive reinforcement,” and the pros are that the 24-year-old would qualify as a homegrown player in the Premier League.

Moreover, his 6’4″ frame makes him naturally dominant in the air, which is why he was also linked during the summer.

Liverpool’s scouts have evidently been tracking the progress of all three defenders, but they are unlikely to be the only centre-backs linked in the coming weeks.