The decision on whether or not to spend on transfers in January will make or break Liverpool’s season.
As expert Jamie Carragher put it perfectly in his column for The telegraphthe £450 million spent this summer clearly did not go far enough to ensure we qualify for the Champions League.
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Hugo Ekitike has already come a long way to prove his worth and players like Florian WirtzMilos Kerkez and Jérémie Frimpong are progressing steadily from week to week. Everything is falling into place.
The Reds are not striving for perfection, as their mixed season has demonstrated beyond doubt that we are in a transition. The aim is rather to limit the damage caused by staff turnover.
In order to achieve the minimum that fans expect from Liverpool each season, it is imperative to strengthen areas of weakness. For that to happen, FSG will have to admit their mistakes.
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Will FSG give Liverpool the resources they need?
Spending £450 million in a transfer window is rare, and it’s even more ridiculous for a team to still have areas for improvement that fans are desperate to fix six months later, but here we are.
What is often overlooked about the summer spending is that £192m was generated from sales, meaning the net spend from transfer activity was only £260m, which is a much better figure to drive your point home when you consider the level of upgrades purchased.
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The injury of the Italian signing Giovanni Leoni couldn’t have been predicted and the confidence in Rio Ngumoha wasn’t misplaced, he’s just not quite at the right physical level to play regularly.
As such, when Carragher calls for the signing of a striker and a centre-back, it is understandable.
However, problematically, Athletics I think Liverpool are “anticipating a quiet month”, adding that “club sources have indicated there will be not there will be intense activity in January,” although “there may still be room for an addition. The recruiting team has “the freedom to react.”
Where should Liverpool prioritize?
Although the emphasis was placed on Antoine Séményobefore Manchester City took over negotiations, the Reds actually had enough strikers to get by for the rest of the season.
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Alexandre Isak has a broken leg and may not return until April, while Mohamed Salah isn’t available until he returns from CAN towards the end of January, but other than those two, the situation isn’t that bad. Hugo Ekitike, Cody Gakpo, Federico Chiesa and Wirtz are all available and young Jayden DannsWill Wright and Ngumoha should be called upon at some point.
The focus should really remain on long-term goals like Michel Olisewith plans drawn up for a concentrated effort to persuade him to leave Bayer Munich this summer for a blockbuster fee.
Meanwhile, the need for a defender is much more serious, with Slot referring to Ryan Gravenberch and Wataru Endo as emergency central defender options behind Joe Gomez who is our only depth in this role.
It makes financial sense for Liverpool to wait Marc Guéhi be available as a free agent in June, and the player’s intentions appear to be following the same path. But someone else must arrive instead in January since Leoni will not return until the season is over. It would be unwise not to do so.
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After all, Ibrahima Konate could still be on his way out at the end of the season and he should be replaced in addition to the bonus central defender who is due to arrive to expand Slot’s squad.
Among the two main demands of this January transfer window, the defender must be at the top of the list.
Slot to hang to dry?
While it may seem odd to claim that Slot would be left to die if FSG didn’t support it again, that’s exactly what will have happened. Three central defenders available since September and no depth on the left behind Gakpo are two issues that need attention.
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Whether it’s one position or another, we know what needs to happen, but it’s plausible that we don’t have anyone.
It would be a season-defining judgment call and it could also be a make-or-break choice for the future of Arne Slot, whose job could be on the line again if there is a real chance we fail to qualify for the Champions League, Europa League or Conference League next season – none of which are guaranteed.
So far, the Reds have managed to put themselves within four points of automatic qualification for the knockout stages of the Champions League, if we look back at how last season went.
And in the Premier League, the team averages 1.77 points per game, which represents an expected result of 68 points – which is a bit tight for a top-four finish, although the club’s form could quite easily decline.
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FSG and the club’s management are well aware of the temporary nature of the current situation, and putting a little more funding on the table would make a significant difference. Otherwise we’re in trouble and it’s more than likely Liverpool will find themselves in a self-inflicted embarrassing nightmare.
