Liverpool struggled badly in defence last season.
With a nice touch of poetry, it brought their title defence under Arne Slot crashing down hard.
Andoni Iraola will be keen to avoid that next season, and in that regard the arrival of Ronald Araujo on loan from Barcelona was highly needed.
Iraola’s defensive options have already been hit by injuries this pre-season. Joe Gomez was forced off seven minutes into Liverpool’s first match of their US tour, a timely lesson for anyone with any ideas of him playing a major role next season.
Gomez will certainly miss the start of the season, but even when he returns later on, Liverpool cannot hang their hats on him.
Giovanni Leoni looked good when he played his first game for the club against Southampton in the League Cup last year. But he is still recovering from the ACL injury he suffered in that game and it is unclear how much such a serious setback could affect a young player like him. He is only 19 years old.
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Jeremy Jacquet joined this summer, but he has yet to feature in pre-season because of a minor fitness problem, and again, he is 21.
Liverpool were forced to rely heavily on 18-year-olds Ifeanyi Ndukwe and Mor Talla Ndiaye, as well as the left-back Luke Chambers, during their three-match tour of America. In the league, they will need a lot more than that.
Araujo will give Iraola an experienced option alongside Virgil van Dijk when the Reds begin their Premier League title defence at Newcastle on 23 August. He can also play at right-back, where Conor Bradley remains unavailable and Jeremie Frimpong is currently the only fit senior option.
Until Leoni and Jacquet can stand strongly on their feet – literally and figuratively – Araujo should ease the pressure and give Iraola something to work with. Even if either youngster should establish himself as a regular alongside Van Dijk, Araujo would also provide experienced cover.
Araujo’s move to Liverpool includes a €55m (£47.1m) option to buy. The loan could become permanent if Liverpool exercise the option.
By next summer, with Van Dijk and Gomez both due to be out of contract, that may be a bigger decision than many fans would expect now.
