Former Liverpool player Luis Garcia has claimed that the Reds still need to sign a right-back and a midfielder this summer.
Like the rest of us, Garcia watched Liverpool get a little pulled apart by Bayern Munich in Singapore yesterday. The Reds were as ragged as they’ve looked in a while, with Trent Alexander-Arnold and Joel Matip struggling in particular.
Nevertheless, they still gave as good as they got at the other end. Optimism should still be in place for the new season. With that in mind, Garcia was asked by ESPN FC whether he thinks his old club will make it back to the Champions League places next season.
“Yes I do, I think with the new replacements in the middle,” said the Spaniard. However, he did also suggest that Liverpool do still need to dip into the market.
“At the back I think we still need someone in that right-back position but having Darwin Nunez on form, Luis Diaz on form Jota, Gakpo I think that we have enough firepower up front to score goals.
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“I think that we’re going to miss Fabinho definitely, we need to seal that place, I don’t say that Curtis Jones can’t do a great job right there but I think that we need someone who can help the defenders to maintain, to keep the balance to the team in transition.”
No arguments here. Get it done, Jurgen!
Liverpool not taking Garcia’s advice
Leaving the midfield for a second – it’s obvious Jones isn’t the long-term solution and Liverpool have their targets – let’s look at whether the Reds will sign a new right-back.
There was plenty of talk earlier in the summer that Klopp might actually be keen to bring someone new in.
Whether it was to give competition to Trent or to enable him to move to midfield full-time, it seemed like something Liverpool might be working on.
But having failed to fully address their midfield issues up to this point, we now don’t think that’s likely to happen.
Besides, Conor Bradley has shown enough during pre-season to suggest that he can ably back Alexander-Arnold up anyway. The 20-year-old has unfortunately picked up an injury for the moment, but has even looked good playing Trent’s inverted role.
That’ll be a big bonus for Klopp. If he can get Bradley even more up to speed over the course of the season, it could really help Liverpool.
Having said all that, the problem here doesn’t really feel completely personnel based. As long as the Reds play this new system, they’re always going to leave the centre-backs slightly exposed. In our opinion, a new central defender who can deal with that better is a much more pressing issue.