Jose Enrique has shared his concern with regard to former club Liverpool’s limited activity in the summer transfer window.
The Reds have already secured the signing of Ibrahima Konate from the Bundesliga, with the recruitment team largely focusing on player exits in the meantime.
“I am concerned with Liverpool’s lack of business in the transfer window so far, the problem with the owners is that we’ve had to sell before buying players in the past – and that seems to still be the case,” the former Newcastle United star told Empire of the Kop.
“The only reason we have players like Alisson and Van Dijk is because we sold Philippe Coutinho. Without that, we wouldn’t have these players and probably the titles they helped us win.
“I believe the signing of Konate was great and it was for the right money, but sometimes you have to go out and spend the big money on the big players.
“Before Alisson and van Dijk arrived, we were contenders to win titles and after they signed, we actually won one. So these kind of players are needed.
“Why can Manchester United go to Real Madrid and sign one of their best players in Raphael Varane and we can’t?”
The Merseysiders are thought to be somewhat reliant on player sales in order to conduct further signings, with The Athletic previously reporting the existence of a £60m target set by the club for player exits.
Some of the best signings the club has made have resulted, as Enrique points out, from player sales, with the exit of Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona helping fund big money moves for Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker.
While it’s frustrating to witness our rivals throwing about money with not a care in the world, it’s equally difficult to ignore the fact that our transfer policy has yielded significant success (generational manager or no).
Credit has to be given to the fact that Liverpool are an extremely well-run club and part of our success boils down to the decision-makers below the owners.
That’s not to overlook the obvious fact that we do need to strengthen, particularly in midfield following the departure of Gini Wijnaldum, though we at the EOTK would be greatly surprised if the recruitment team were to remain empty-handed beyond the close of the window.
EOTK Insider Opinion: What Van Dijk & Gomez’s return means for Liverpool
Don’t forget FSG are building the new Anfield Road stand costing £60m, taking infrastructure spending to £225m…………we will sell another couple of players then go again I’m sure, CM.& Striker needed, FSG don’t get it wrong very often!.
even if we get billions after that,FSG is too stinchy,,we will never a transfare window that FSG will sunction certain amount for the buying of quality players..SELL first then BUY policy is killing the rythem of the team
if we cannot spent big on big players,,,it clearly shows that Liverpool is on the wrong hands,,,FSG policy on transfers has much to be desired…we cant build a strong team on SELL first then BUY policy…thats a bussiness policy not good for sport…Spend big and buy big for the team to challenge and win throuphies thats the policy of football nowadays…so FSG must be reminded on that
Don’t you think that the likes of Manchester City and Manchester united along with Chelsea and Tottenham are actually trying to buy Premier league and Champions league Trophies instead of training what they have to a better standard?
Poor from the owners to not invest in the squad..its been 3 years….
Sometimes you must speculate to accumulate…
and this after the ESL APOLOGY… or was the APOLOGY FAKE ?
FSG need to look at themselves
It’s just totally poor from FSG…we are the 5th highest valued club currently in world football yet act like a small club …..to put this into perspective, I agree with FFP, I don’t particularly want Liverpool to go out and spend £100m+ on one player, in an ideal world, I would love us to bring through a couple of names being a striker and a midfielder from the academy so as to save on transfer fees, save on wages but most of all, it’s the pride of producing a player from one’s own academy into the first team. However, this is not always possible so if the club are not going to go big on a large fee for say a Haaland as an example which I can understand, then we could have tried to bring in players like Donyell Malen or Patson Daka who both reportedly were interested in coming to Liverpool. We need to recruit a striker to essentially replace Origi but also to put pressure on the established front three as they as good as what they have been, will not go on forever and Malen and Daka were both available around the £25m mark yet FSG did not make a move to buy either. Why? Look what Klopp did with Mane, turned a £30m purchase into a world class £90m or so player. If we would have bought Malen or Daka, just think what Klopp could have moulded either of them into? We have had the best manager for years yet he is being let down by owners who are not investing in a playing squad that is starting to age in certain parts of the team. When people say we bought Alisson and VVD, that was 3 years ago and funded largely by the sale of Coutinho. To summarise, I don’t want FSG to spend hundreds and hundreds of millions pounds each season (like Man City do), that’s not our model but at the same time, a club the size and stature of Liverpool, you have to provide some funds to the manager each season to freshen up the squad and to challenge established players. A failure to do so will result in us regressing rather than progressing.