In light of Liverpool signing Sadio Mane, there have been many skeptics among the fanbase as to whether he is worth the kind of money the Reds have paid for him.
Many see his inconsistency, and the fact that he’s the fifth player that has come our way via Southampton, as downsides of the deal. Those that had heavily hoped for the likes of Mario Goetze, Henrikh Mkhitaryan or Marco Reus are left thoroughly disappointed.
The fact is, Sadio Mane is a fantastic player, as we should know well by now. Liverpool and Southampton met three times in 2015/16, with Mane finding our net four times.
He has pace and power, dribbling skills, ability to run both at defences and in behind them, to send in useful crosses, and the clearly defined end-product in terms of goals and assists are his attributes, attributes we’ve desperately been craving in attack for a while now.
As for his price, it would be fair to say that the decision not to sign him for around £10million two years ago, made by former manager Brendan Rodgers, has cost the club an additional £20million.
Inconsistency is something that plagued most of our players throughout the season. Klopp has pointed this out many times himself, and hopefully, the whole team will get more stable after the first pre-season under the former Borussia Dortmund manager. Sadio Mane included.
But probably the most important angle of viewing this transfer window, is that the club are finally going the right way about the order of business. It was a mark of the previous summers that we were entangled in long, wearying transfer sagas.
We sold our top players and then struggled to find replacements. Now it’s the other way around. We’re getting stronger, we’ve signed four players, three of whom are likely to improve the starting XI.
No “top club” is getting near signing any of our needed players. It’s an immense step up for the club, after failing to keep hold of Luis Suarez and Raheem Sterling within two summer windows in a row. It seems we’re set to expand the squad first, addressing the right issues – problems in positions that have been haunting the team and undermining their (and Klopp’s) efforts to set the club on the right path.
We’ve acquired a young and excellent goalkeeper. The mere presence of Loris Karius, voted second-best in the Bundesliga behind Bayern Munich’s Manuel Neuer, should give Simon Mignolet a lot to think about, even if he doesn’t beat him to the place between the posts immediately.
Joel Matip is about to enter his prime, while being a well-established centre-back already. His imposing figure, standing 6’4’’ tall, should significantly improve the team’s ability to defend set-pieces, an aspect that has troubled us deeply and had a most undesirable effect on our results. He is also very good with the ball at his feet and boasts considerable pace for a central defender.
A good game-reader too. Marko Grujic is a very talented youngster, and while his success in the rather poor Serbian league means very little in terms of reaching the level required at Liverpool, he’s at an age perfect for Jurgen Klopp to take him into his hands and shape him into a class player.
He probably won’t make a big impact on the team in 2016/17, but he’s definitely one for the future. According to reports linking Liverpool to Piotr Zielinski and Mahmoud Dahoud, Klopp is looking to add at least one more established but still young central midfielder, and a left-back, either to provide cover and competition for Alberto Moreno, or to replace him in the starting line-up. The failed bid for Leicester’s Ben Chilwell points to the former.
When the squad is assembled, and the pre-season is deeply underway, it will be the right time to look at possible departures, apart from those who have already left. But the point is, those departures should involve only the players assessed by Klopp as not needed anymore, and not our key players, as has been the case in recent years.
It would be a very important indication of the club showing ambition, and would have huge effect in changing the perception of the club’s transfer policy among the fans. It would also affect the perception of Liverpool FC from outside, presenting us as a club not to be bullied, but to be respected and reckoned with.
Make no mistake, this has been a good transfer window for Liverpool FC so far.
