Liverpool broke with a decade-old tradition last season.
Because it was amid the ongoing injury problems at centre-back that the Reds struck out on the winter transfer deadline day and signed not one but two players, the first buzzer-beating additions to the squad they had made mid-season for 10 years.
Not since that heady day of January 31, 2011 when Luis Suarez and Andy Carroll came and Fernando Torres went had Liverpool seen such a flurry of winter action on the final day, although it is safe to say that Ozan Kabak and Ben Davies were slightly less heralded arrivals.
The pair were necessary additions in a position in which the Reds were desperately short in, and there looks like being no such mad scrambles at Anfield in the final few hours of this window, especially after the surprise move for Luis Diaz was completed on Sunday.
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Fulham's Fabio Carvalho is set to be next, although the teenager is likely to be loaned back to the Championship promotion chasers until the end of the campaign.
Liverpool have to add to their squad in the summer, that much is clear, with contracts running down and players likely to leave, and also because the average age of the group needs to get younger.
Who could they target though? Here are five names likely to be on the radar.
Fabio Carvalho, Fulham
We'll start off with the most likely deal, as a move for Fulham teenager Carvalho is expected to be completed on Monday.
Three years after the Reds managed to lure Harvey Elliott from Fulham, they're looking at the Whites' talented attacking midfielder as an option after he's turned heads in the Championship this season.
Carvalho is a goal threat from his position, with his strikes helping Marco Silva's free-scoring side take control of the Championship promotion picture.
Born in Portugal but having settled in England since 2013, Carvalho is an England youth international who will see his contract at Craven Cottage expire in the summer, another two ticks in the box for a Liverpool outfit in need of homegrown players and careful with their cash.
It seems pretty likely that he'll sign for around £5m and then be loaned back to Craven Cottage for the rest of the campaign, with Fulham banking money for a player they'd have lost for nothing in the summer.
Now to four more players Liverpool could target in the summer...
Aurelien Tchouameni, Monaco
Adding in the midfield areas is likely to be a major project for Liverpool, especially as James Milner seems set to leave the club with the expiry of his contract.
Even with Milner on board though, the Reds are lacking a specialist in a defensive midfield setting who can cover for the excellent Fabinho.
Jordan Henderson is usually the one who does it when he's not available, but that then takes him away from being of use further forward. Also, as Henderson ages himself he is likely to move into a Milner-esque stage of his career.
Step forward Monaco's Tchouameni, then. The young midfielder, who turned 22 last week, has plenty of the qualities of Fabinho, and would also be joining the Reds from the same club if he did arrive.
Already a seven-times capped French international, Tchouameni could be a perfect addition and be allowed to bed into the team slowly if he did join.
Jude Bellingham, Borussia Dortmund
Still just 18, England international Bellingham could be an addition to the Liverpool midfield for more than the next decade if the Reds made a move for him.
The trouble is that move wouldn't come cheap.
After moving to Dortmund from Birmingham City in the summer of 2020, Bellingham seems certain to return to English football one day, with several of the big boys ready to line up for him and pay what it takes.
Is summer 2022 a little too early though? Perhaps. But in Liverpool's situation it might pay off in the long run to get in ahead of their rivals now.
Bellingham possesses a maturity beyond his years - Pep Guardiola once joked he was 'lying' about his tender age as he was so good - and he'd be almost a sure-fire hit in a Jurgen Klopp team.
Jarrod Bowen, West Ham
We'll be honest, Luis Diaz was initially set to appear here before Liverpool jumped the gun and beat Tottenham to his signing in this window, and so it is to West Ham's Jarrod Bowen that we turn to next.
The wide man has been in terrific form for the Hammers across this campaign, and talk of an England call-up is both rife and fully deserved.
His hard work would certainly suit a Jurgen Klopp side, but given Diaz's arrival you'd now think that he'd only be turned to if an established member of the attack left.
He wouldn't come cheap either.
Cody Gakpo, PSV Eindhoven
Another young attacker linked with the Reds, Gakpo might be a little more raw than Diaz but would certainly fit the bill.
Having already amassed over 100 senior appearances for PSV at the age of 22, he would appear to be at the perfect next stage to kick on his career, especially as he picked up four caps for the Netherlands last year.
Virgil van Dijk's influence would help there, and as a forward simply looking to bed in and supplement the existing attackers he could be perfect.
