Jurgen Klopp continued to supply hints FSG’s way regarding potential further investment in the January transfer window, though was keen to remind reporters of Liverpool’s injured stars.
The German tactician is still without Bobby Firmino, Diogo Jota, Darwin Nunez, Arthur Melo, Virgil van Dijk, and Luis Diaz (Stefan Bajcetic and James Milner appear set to return to full action soon) and questioned whether it was the right time to continue strengthening the squad in comments relayed on Twitter by Paul Gorst.
Put all together and taking into account the Brazilian midfielder’s £3.9m loan fee, that’s a collective value of $305.1m worth of talent [£250.4m/€282.2m] currently unavailable for selection.
As such, it does add some serious credibility to the manager’s complaints ahead of the halfway mark in the league campaign.
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Equally, of course, we’d be foolish to overlook the stark reality that Liverpool’s current needs lie in reinforcing the middle of the park.
There’s clearly a more than competent player in Arthur, though we simply haven’t had a good enough opportunity to see if he could be the difference-maker for the remainder of the term.
Regardless, on current evidence, it’s becoming increasingly clear that whilst having an energetic pair of legs in the midfield department would help matters, it would far from resolve the struggles we’re experiencing.
A complete overhaul will be required in the summer window – a task made all the more difficult should we fail to reap the benefits of re-securing Champions League status.
That’s not to say that having names like Jota and the electric presence of Diaz back in contention for minutes also won’t help matters, it’s just not the solution we’re so desperately crying out for at the moment.