Kolkata, January 11: Though Liverpool are eyeing Burnley defender James Tarkowski to make up for their recent injury woes, they have been told to cough up at least £50m to have him permanently.

Liverpool are currently in the midst of a defensive crisis with three out of four centre-backs- Dejan Lovren, Joe Gomez and Joel Matip already on the sidelines while Virgil van Dijk is also said to be suffering from a mystery injury.

Both Matip and Gomez have been out of action for the last couple of months and Croatia international Lovren is the latest name on the casualty list.

The 29-year-old limped out of the Reds’ 1-2 FA Cup defeat to Wolves which now has left Klopp with only one proper centre-back option with 16-year-old Hoever who made his debut as a substitute during the match.

Amidst such defensive crisis, Klopp has asked the board for a short term fix with a loan deal of Tarkowski. However the Clarets have instead slapped a £50m price-tag on the England international rejecting the proposal.

Burnley have placed a £50m price tag on defender James Tarkowski amid interest from Liverpool for a loan deal. (The Sun) pic.twitter.com/yjUJ8X5LR8

— TransferNewsCentral (@TransferNewsCen) January 10, 2019

Burnley manager Dyche has also laughed off the likelihood of Tarkowski leaving Turf Moor and even termed the transfer call as 'bizarre'.

“There are a lot of rumours out there, and not much fact,” Dyche said on talkSPORT.

“The most amazing one is the Tarky one. That is just bizarre.

“It’s that time of the season, and everyone is looking for a snippet, but there is a lot of phantom stuff out there.”

James Tarkowski to @LFC? ➡🔴@BurnleyOfficial manager Sean Dyche says he's unaware of any interest...💭

Follow live transfer updates here: https://t.co/F3GgK2qgOL pic.twitter.com/0zwCcERxdQ

— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) January 10, 2019

Liverpool were interested in the 26-year-old, whose contract runs until 2022, last summer but he continued at Turf Moor. And his stock has soared since the last year, with the defender breaking into the England squad in 2018.

Now looking at the asking price and Burnley manager Sean Dyche's comments it looks the Reds will face tough time acquiring the defender and might have to break the bank again to hold any chance of landing him.