The upcoming transfer window is extremely important for so many sides ahead of next season. Liverpool are certainly one of those sides, as boss Brendan Rodgers looks to build a squad capable of challenging for a place in the top four.
There are plenty of positions in the side that I feel need strengthening, and there has already been movement in and out of the club. Kolo Toure became Brendan Rodgers’ first signing of the summer after joining on a free transfer from Manchester City, whilst Danny Wilson and Peter Gulacsi have left the club after their contracts expired.
The signing of Toure strikes me as a very clever one. Rodgers has insisted that he only wants winners to join the club this summer. Toure certainly falls in to that category, having won the league title with Arsenal and Manchester City. At 32, the Ivorian didn’t play as many games as he would have liked to last season, but his ability as a defender should not be doubted. His domineering presence at the back is something I feel could be a real asset for us, having conceded a lot of goals from direct play last season. The ex-Manchester City captain is also a very strong character and a good leader. In Jamie Carragher’s absence, I believe these capabilities will be key for us. With Rodgers looking at other centre backs in the market, Toure probably won’t be a regular starter, but I believe that his skills in the dressing room will be just as valuable as his skills on the pitch. On a free transfer, I think the signing of Toure is a very astute piece of business.
Liverpool are also looking at several other centre back targets. Reports suggest that 20-year-old Sporting Lisbon defender Tiago Ilori will sign for the club in the near future. Ilori is someone I think Rodgers may be looking at as an alternative to Sebastian Coates, who looks likely to leave the club this summer. Schalke’s Kyriakos Papadopolous, another defender who has been strongly linked with the club, is a player who I believe would go down as a huge success at Anfield.
As far as the attack goes, the Andy Carroll saga continues to drag on. I think Rodgers will see the sale of him as crucial to his plans this summer. The money from the sale should allow him to push through with other deals. Reports suggest that the Sevilla forward Luis Alberto may be snapped up by the Reds, after Barcelona decided against triggering his buy-out clause following a year on loan with Barcelona B in the Spanish Segunda Division.
Celta Vigo striker Iago Aspas looks set to sign for the club in the coming days. Aspas, who is capable of playing in several attacking roles, is a player I think Rodgers will view as an extremely good option to have in attack. He is another player with a strong passion for the game, and someone who’s attitude I think will be appreciated by a lot of Liverpool fans. It’s hard to say how big a part he’ll play in the side next season whilst the club is looking at other offensive targets, but I certainly don’t view him as a Luis Suarez replacement. He is someone who I think will be bought to play alongside the Uruguayan.
Real Madrid continue to be linked with Suarez, but it looks as if Liverpool will vigilantly try to keep their prize asset at the club, and rightly so. If Suarez was to go, hopefully it would be something that goes through fairly soon, enabling Rodgers a lot of time to look at ways of making up for his absence. If he was to leave, I imagine the Northern Irishman would look at a top class number ten/second striker, as well as one or two more versatile forwards that can play in a number of roles. The right hand side of our attack is somewhere I think we need to strengthen in the coming months.
News this week that Pepe Reina has ‘guaranteed’ supporters that his future lies at Anfield comes as a huge boost for the club. In a summer where the Reds are losing Jamie Carragher, in my opinion, we simply can’t afford to lose yet another extremely influential character from the squad.
Brendan Rodgers has now returned from his holiday, and with the start of pre-season training now just over three weeks away, the next seven days look as if they’ll be busy ones for Liverpool in the transfer market, with developments likely regarding players coming in and going out of the club.
