The need for a marquee signing

AS the start to the new season dawns ever closer by the day, the excitement builds and the anticipation grows. But does the reality live up to our high expectations?

With much transfer business being done very early on in the window, it undoubtedly allows the fans to feel more at ease knowing that the club have learnt from the disastrous window of 2012 in which £35m club record signing Andy Carroll left the club on loan, with no replacement signed.

However one still cannot deny that something just doesn’t feel quite right.

Luis Alberto, Iago Aspas and Kolo Toure have all been drafted in. Whilst the signing of the Belgian, Simon Mignolet from Sunderland, broke the club’s goalkeeping transfer record at £9m. Whilst Jonjo Shelvey has headed out the exit door.

Alberto and Aspas have both shown early promise in the first three pre-season games, whilst Toure looks to be a very astute piece of business on behalf of Rodgers following the loss of Carragher to retirement. And Simon Mignolet is regarded on the whole as being the best goalkeeper of the past season.

Yet the club is still screaming out for that marquee signing. That signing which will make others sit up and take notice, and the player that can be the difference between another 6th/7th place battle, or a return to the top four.

The missing out on Henrikh Mkhitaryan to Borussia Dortmund could be deemed to send all the wrong signals to Liverpool fans.
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If we are to believe reports from apparent close sources to the player such as Artur Petrosyan who at the time of negotiations took to Twitter to claim:

“Ian Ayre now has to be an absolute Kerzhakov to miss on Henrikh.”

With Kerzhakov of course being that notorious Zenit striker famed for his goals to shots ratio of around 1 to 100. It seems Ian Ayre and the club, lacked the ruthlessness and desire in order to make such a statement of intent.

However the window is far from over and the keeping hold of star striker Luis Suarez remains paramount to the club’s ambitions this season.

It needs to be made clear that despite clubs such as Arsenal may have Champions League football this year, they will never have the authority to publicly mock this immense institution with a derisory pound increase on the £40m clause in his contract, and then succeed in signing their star player.

Christian Eriksen, Roberto Soldado, Xerdan Shaqiri and Brazilian ace Bernard have all been linked with the club this summer.

And one cannot help but feel that in order to capitalise on the most unpredictable Premier League season to date, that Liverpool FC need to make their intent clear with a high- profile quality signing. Watch this space…