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Two centre-backs caught the eye of <\/b>Liverpool<\/b><\/a>‘s scouting department at the U17 World Cup in Qatar last November.<\/b><\/p>\n Within weeks, the club spent a combined \u00a33.5m on the pair: Senegal’s Mor Talla Ndiaye and Austria’s Ifeanyi Ndukwe.<\/p>\n Under Matt Newberry, Liverpool<\/a>‘s head of global talent, this was evidence of future planning in full flow.<\/p>\n Yet surely no-one inside the club would have expected the teenage duo to be the centre-back pairing for most of Liverpool<\/a>‘s opening pre-season fixture.<\/p>\n With Joe Gomez forced off by injury in the eighth minute against Sunderland<\/a>, and neither Jeremy Jacquet or Giovanni Leoni fit to play, Liverpool<\/a> have a problem at the heart of their defence.<\/p>\n Looking at the long term is one thing, but they need reinforcements in the here and now.<\/p>\n Even before the injury, new head coach Andoni Iraola said his squad was “very thin” defensively.<\/p>\n Gomez was absent from Liverpool<\/a>‘s training session in Chicago on Sunday and an update on the severity of his injury is expected this week.<\/p>\n He is Liverpool<\/a>‘s longest-serving current player but has now missed 225 games because of injury, according to Transfermarkt, since signing from Charlton in 2015.<\/p>\n Virgil van Dijk is the club’s only fit senior centre-back. The Liverpool<\/a> captain is 35 and played every minute in the Premier League last season, but he is not the force that he used to be.<\/p>\n The Dutchman, like Gomez, is also into the last year of his contract at Anfield. There is a possibility both players will move on next summer.<\/p>\n One of the reasons why Liverpool<\/a> allowed Ibrahima Konate to leave on a free transfer and join Real Madrid was because they felt Jacquet, 21, and Leoni, 19, who cost \u00a355m and \u00a326m respectively, were the best young centre-backs in France and Italy.<\/p>\n Perhaps they will prove inspired signings, with Jacquet in line to make his debut against Leeds<\/a> on Sunday.<\/p>\n Liverpool<\/a> will give them every opportunity to fulfil their potential, but right now, just like Ndiaye and Ndukwe, both are far from the finished product.<\/p>\n