Jamie Carragher raised eyebrows last week when he suggested that Liverpool needed to beef up their surely Premier League-winning squad with no fewer than six new signings.
But, as the former Anfield stalwart would go on to explain, this is not because he harbours considerable doubts about any particular members of Arne Slot’s starting XI.
Liverpool legend Carragher wants those six new signings to be seen as players capable of bringing the sort of strength in depth that is arguably missing at the present moment.
This, lest we forget, is still very much Jurgen Klopp’s squad. Arne Slot is merely renting in the house that his predecessor built.
Carragher cannot help but feel that the former Feyenoord boss is lacking faith when it comes to a number of fringe players. Harvey Elliott, Jarell Quansah, Darwin Nunez, Wataru Endo and Federico Chisa, for instance, have started only ten Premier League games between them for Liverpool in 2024/25.
All, with the exception of summer signing Chiesa, have found opportunities harder to come by than on Klopp’s watch.
Jamie Carragher explains why Liverpool must sign six players
In an ideal world, while Carragher would love to see Liverpool sign Hugo Ekitike from Eintracht Frankfurt as a potential £85 million marquee striker signing, the other five additions would allow Slot to put more of his own stamp on a team where the gap between the starters and the substitutes feels wider than ever.
“It’s not six players going into the [starting XI],” Carragher begins, clarifying the comments he made a few days previously. “When you look at Liverpool, its not the manager’s [squad]. It is Klopp’s.
“[Arne Slot] doesn’t trust the squad. He plays the same players every week. Now, we don’t know if thats Slot’s way yet. We will probably find that out next season when he has more of his own squad. But he doesn’t trust the players on the bench.”
The highly-rated Quansah is a target for Newcastle United, having started only twice this term. This was supposed to be the season where the England Under-21 international really established himself as a central defensive force to be reckoned with.
Instead, Quansah’s future is now very much up in the air. Especially as Liverpool look to tie down Ibrahima Konate after succeeding in handing Virgil van Dijk a new two-year deal.
Carragher wants Andy Robertson benched and Kostas Tsimikas sold
Liverpool are also in talks with Bournemouth’s Dean Huijsen. Carragher hopes to see Milos Kerkez arrive at Anfield too from the Vitality Stadium, with Andy Robertson starting to make goal-costing errors on a regular basis these days.
Kostas Tsimikas has been a loyal and solid reserve since arriving from Olympiakos in 2020. But, Carragher feels, the Greek international should make way with Robertson taking his place on the bench from next season onwards.
“If Konate or Van Dijk got injured, who would come in?” Carragher asks. “They’ve got young Jarell Quansah, Joe Gomez is always injured unfortunately for him. [Liverpool need a new defender to] really push Konate and become a Van Dijk in the next two years.
“It almost feels like Liverpool have [just] two centre-backs. And you think, if one of them got injured, what are Liverpool going to do? I think the same applies in central midfield with [Alexis] Mac Allister and [Ryan] Gravenberch.
“We need a left-back to play. Robertson needs to become, I would say, a sort of squad player at left-back.”
When asked by former Arsenal striker Ian Wright if this means Carragher would ‘get rid’ of Tsimikas, his response was brutal and straight to the point; “Yeah.”
Fabrizio Romano, meanwhile, believes Liverpool could sell Darwin Nunez and Luis Diaz to Saudi Arabia. Harvey Elliot, Caoimhin Kelleher and Ben Doak have Premier League admires.
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