Liverpool supporters were expecting a busy summer of transfer activity and with four midfielders leaving the club, it would be fair to assume that we would bring the same number of new players in.
Writing for The Athletic, James Pearce provided an update on this though: ‘Whether Liverpool sign one or two more midfielders this summer will be heavily influenced by the cost of the deals available.
‘The club’s stance isn’t that they must sign two more regardless in order to fill gaps. Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain only started seven league matches between them in 2022-23’.
Although Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Arthur Melo offered little in terms of minutes on the pitch in the Premier League last season, it’s still not ideal that our often stretched squad is going to be decreasing in size.
James Milner will be a big miss and so it may seem that Alexis Mac Allister is an able replacement for the minutes our vice captain provided.
Then it may come down to promoting Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott, Stefan Bajcetic and possibly even the want-away Fabio Carvalho – who can all also help out in the middle.
Given this list above and then adding on Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Thiago Alcantara and considering Trent Alexander-Arnold’s new role – perhaps one more could be enough.
It’s a fine balance between the number of players we may think are needed but also the amount of minutes we can give each of them to keep everyone happy.
Thankfully that’s Jurgen Klopp’s headache and not ours but it does seem like two more players would be the maximum – when it comes to midfield acquisitions in this window.
Saying Keita , The Ox and Melo only played 7 games so they dont need to be replace is absolute rubbish. . Their lack of availability was one of the major reason for last seasons poor performance. We had no cover when Henderson etc got injured or lost form. Thaigo was also injured and unavailable throughout the season and looks likely to be the same this season. The young players are not yet good enough or might never be. We need at least 2 more class midfielders and not buy on the cheap hoping they come good. In this world you get what you pay for with the odd exception. So cheap skates FSG get your wallet out if you want to sit at the top table