2020 Hindsight: Liverpool finally got a summer transfer window wrong

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It now looks as though Liverpool finally got a transfer window wrong. Hindsight is 20/20 but last year didn’t go the way it should have.

On paper, the summer 2020 transfer window looked wonderful. Kostas Tskimikas was virtually enough for us to think that, in fact.

With him, Liverpool ‘completed’ their squad. That is, they had cover for every position.

But then Thiago arrived along with Diogo Jota. Now Liverpool had incredible versatility in midfield and attack. They still had their champion squad but with added unpredictability.

And yet, looking back, Liverpool may have gotten this transfer window very wrong.

Hindsight

Tsimikas and Thiago, certainly, were luxuries. Sensible luxuries but that’s what they were.

Tsimikas came in purely as a backup player, despite James Milner having filled the role adequately. The Greek has had injuries but even when fit, Liverpool have barely used him.

You suspect they may even have Milner there over him, given the 24-year-old’s lack of minutes.

And Thiago came into a packed midfield. Liverpool did not need a new midfielder – Thiago was just someone who could potentially kick them up a gear.

That’s certainly not a bad thing. We’re thrilled Thiago is at Liverpool and he remains, undoubtedly, a fantastic signing.

But he wasn’t what Liverpool needed. What they needed came in positions they didn’t address properly.

One of those was in attack. Jota arrived and has proven to be a remarkable signing. He’s a fantastic player and, again, a wonderful signing.

But clearly, Jota wasn’t enough. Liverpool were always one injury away from Divock Origi being their best option from the bench and their best option to rotate with.

And he has two goals since December 2019.

Liverpool needed to address that and didn’t. And that ‘one injury away’ mentality didn’t appear in defence, either.

Liverpool sold Dejan Lovren and just didn’t replace him. Jurgen Klopp actually talked back in the summer about wanting four senior options at centre-half.

Instead, Liverpool went into the season with three. They were one injury away from relying on Joel Matip – a defender who can’t stay fit.

And his lack of fitness meant Liverpool were never far off having to use Fabinho in defence. The Brazilian has now spent so long there that it’s normalised.

If Liverpool had signed in different positions, this injury crisis wouldn’t bite so hard. They wouldn’t be searching for answers after one win in seven and four Premier League games without a goal.

But after nailing the 2017, 2018 and 2019 windows, Liverpool made a mistake this time around. In a lot of ways, that feels positive – they were never going to nail every transfer window for the rest of time.

It’s just a shame it had to hit quite this hard. Now, Liverpool must find a way to correct their mistakes. And if that doesn’t happen this month, it must mean going big in summer 2021.