Jarell Quansah: Jurgen Klopp has already made Liverpool star's future clear amid Preston North End and Leicester City links

It is unlikely Liverpool will allow centre-back Jarell Quansah to join a Championship club on loan in January, following comments made by Reds boss Jurgen Klopp over the summer.

Preston North End and Leicester City have been credited with an interest in the defender who has broken into the first team at Anfield this season. Preston have previously done loan business with Liverpool, signing right-back Calvin Ramsay until the end of the season. However, the Scotsman has yet to play for Ryan Lowe's side due to injury but he was on the bench for Saturday's 2-1 home loss to Cardiff City.

Liverpool defender Sepp van den Berg also spent the 2021-22 campaign on loan at Deepdale, making 66 appearances for Preston in a successful loan spell.

However, despite the strong relationship between the clubs it appears Klopp is unwilling to part with Quansah in January. The Reds have Virgil van Dijk, Quansah, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Ibrahima Konate as their senior centre-back options but with patchy injury records for the latter three, Liverpool are not likely to risk being short in that area by allowing Quansah to leave on loan.

With injuries in the centre of defence this season, Klopp has already handed Quansah nine senior appearances this term. Back in August the Liverpool boss was questioned if he planned on adding to his centre-back options and confirmed Quansah was a key part of his plans this campaign - making a January departure highly unlikely unless the Anfield club opt to bolster in that area in January.

“In an ideal world we have six, seven, eight centre halves. We need to be lucky with injuries," said Klopp in August.

“I have no doubt about the quality of the boys we have, we have Jarell Quansah, a super-talented player as well. In this moment, we are covered but it’s not dreamland where you can be prepared for absolutely each situation."

Given that Klopp has admitted his options at centre-back are not 'dreamland' it appears a departure in that area is highly unlikely to take place when the window opens in January.