After a climatic finish to the 2018/19 season, resulting in Jurgen Klopp’s first trophy as Liverpool manager, attention now turns to the summer transfer window, as the German looks to further his already impressive squad.
Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund are currently boasting some impressive signings as they’ve acted quickly this summer; Manchester United are being linked with some quality targets such as Bruno Fernandes and Aaron Wan-Bissaka, whereas the most action seen by Liverpool fans is the departure of Sheyi Ojo on loan to Steven Gerrard’s Rangers.
As effective as it has been during the past two transfer windows, the radio silence approach taken by Michael Edwards and co. makes it a rather frustrating time as we ache for excitement over transfers and potential targets, but after being crowned European Champions for the sixth time, do Liverpool need to invest big this summer?
Simply, yes, we do. While we have had a rather impressive season, our squad appears to lack real quality throughout, with our only sources of depth coming in the centre of defence and the centre of midfield.
Elsewhere, we struggle, and this is something that needs to be addressed. There’s no doubt that our starting XI is world class, after all, we have just won the Champions League, but there have been times during the season where our squad has looked thin; Jordan Henderson playing at right-back against Leicester City and Gini Wijnaldum playing as our centre-forward against Barcelona show how injuries can impact the team as we drew 1-1 and lost 3-0 respectively in these games.
In addition to this, we couldn’t make a substitution when struggling as our bench also appeared to be light, meaning we had to trust the 11 which started. It’s unfair to expect every player to produce a 10/10 performance every game as everyone has their off days, so in these cases, we need to be able to have options on the bench to replace them and offer something different when chasing the game.
Xherdan Shaqiri was bought for this exact purpose but his appearances were limited after the turn of the new year which could suggest a lack of faith from Klopp, meaning we need to reinvest in these types of players to increase our options. As many fans would turn to the impacts of Origi and Shaqiri in the miraculous 4-0 win against Barcelona, what needs to be understood, in my opinion, is that these games unfortunately only happen once in a blue moon and aren’t representative of our squad depth.
Our successes of last season mean we are committed to playing in seven different competitions; the Super Cup, Community Shield, Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup, Champions League and the Club World Cup.
With the way Klopp has transformed Liverpool, our expectations are to go as far as possible in every single competition, drastically increasing the number of games we will (hopefully) be playing next season. Although the Super Cup and Community Shield are one-game competitions, it cuts down the players’ holiday and their opportunity to recharge, thus increasing the length of the season.
This coupled with our high-intensity style of play will not only increase the chance of injury but also increase tiredness causing us to appear less sharp in games. Investing in squad depth means we can rotate and keep the players fit and sharp for the long duration of the season ahead.
As European Champions, we are in a fantastic position to sign players meaning we have an extremely strong chance of signing almost any player in the world. Some of the most promising players across the globe can see what a dangerous side we are and would dream of being a part of it, especially with Klopp’s reputation of bringing through youth.
We need to capitalise on the fortunate position we are in to maintain this success for as long as possible. By investing in some promising talent for the long term future, it means we can prolong our time at the top and enhance our reputation as one of the most threatening sides in the world.
