Liverpool should have signed Queens Park Rangers striker Charlie Austin and not Danny Ings, according to former QPR player Rodney Marsh.
Austin scored 18 goals in the league last season while Ings scored 11, though both could not stop their clubs from getting relegated.
A deal to sign Ings from Burnley was announced earlier this month by the Reds while a number of clubs are pursuing Austin.
Newcastle United, West Ham United, Everton and Bournemouth are just some of the clubs that have been linked with the striker.
But Marsh believes Austin should be plying his trade at bigger clubs. In his appearance on talkSport programme Extra Time, he said:
“When Danny Ings signed for Liverpool, I thought Charlie Austin would be a better signing.
“He’s been mentioned with Bournemouth and West Ham, but they’re not big enough clubs.
“Austin has averaged 20 goals a season over the last couple of years and I thought a big club would come in for him.
“They haven’t and I don’t understand why. People have said to me he wants to stay in the south and, if that’s the case, his options are limited.
“I thought Everton would go after him. I see them as just around the top six. I thought they would be chomping at the bit to get him.”
Austin, who also used to play for Burnley, looks certain to leave QPR this summer and return to the Premier League.
But the QPR hierarchy are requesting a transfer fee of circa £15m for the Englishman’s service, something that may have deterred Brendan Rodgers from making a move for him.
Ings’ compensation fee is to be settled by a tribunal and it is likely to be around £5m to £7m.
