Queens Park Rangers back Steven Caulker is headed to Anfield for the rest of the season, as Liverpool made a savvy addition to its depleted center back corps on Tuesday.
Caulker, 24, was outstanding for Cardiff City in 2013-14’s relegation campaign, but not-so-much as QPR suffered a similar fate the following season. He was on loan at Southampton, but had the loan canceled to switch to the Anfield set.
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He’ll be available for Wednesday’s visit from Arsenal, which is big news for a Reds side that is missing Martin Skrtel for another month and planned on using Lucas Leiva as a third center back if necessary. Caulker played just 150 minutes for Saints.
Leiva would’ve been the third back because Jurgen Klopp’s troops had been boosted by the return of Kolo Toure and a game Mamadou Sakho, who is hopeful to start on Wednesday.
Presuming Caulker’s somewhere between his dominant 2013-14 and last year’s mess at QPR, this is a solid pickup for Klopp. It wouldn’t be a surprise to see the English back find semi-regular playing time for the Reds, especially in Europe. Liverpool has Augsburg in the Europa League’s Round of 32 on Feb. 18 and 25.