Manchester United legend Gary Neville claimed Liverpool have a problem when it comes to finding a new striker to sign.
The former Man United right-back questioned who Liverpool could realistically add to their squad, even if they had £75million to spend, as it would need to be someone capable of jumping ahead of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in the pecking order.
Neville explained that a £75million forward wouldn’t want to be sat on the bench and the Reds’ current front-three wouldn’t be happy if a new signing took their first-team spot.
The pundit shared the problem the Reds now have is similar to how Manchester United previously couldn’t find a midfielder good enough to arrive at the club and knock David Beckham, Paul Scholes, Roy Keane or Ryan Giggs out of the first-team.
“Who’s going to come in as a striker at Liverpool?” said Neville on Sky Sports’ Big Season Debate, as seen in a clip uploaded to the club’s Twitter account.
“If you’re Liverpool wanting to spend £75million on an attacker or a forward, those front three that are there now aren’t going to be happy sitting on the bench, so you’re going to have to ****** them off right away and the guy coming in for £75million isn’t gonna sit on the bench, so you’re gonna have a bit of a problem.
“In the late 2000s, late 90s, with Beckham, Scholes, Keane and Giggs, they were too good, so anyone that came in was never going to get in, they were unbelievable.
“You couldn’t break that, you couldn’t break that four, so when Veron signed, he was always going to fail cause those four were set in stone.
“So that’s the thing if Liverpool did invest now, £75million, they’ve got a really great front three that they can’t probably refresh at this time as no one will come in, they’ll just look at it, as if you’re a striker from Barcelona or another club in Europe looking at Liverpool, you’ll think I’m not going there I won’t get in.”
OPINION
Liverpool didn’t add a new first-team forward to their squad before the transfer window closed, and it seems Neville has a theory why this was the case. The former Man United player clearly believes Jurgen Klopp would struggle to find someone capable of being better than Salah, Firmino or Mane, which is understandable, and thinks a new recruit could upset the status quo at Anfield. Given that the Reds’ current attacking trio fired the club to Champions League glory and to second place in the Premier League, why would Klopp risk upsetting the balance of his squad? Salah scored 27 goals in his 2018/19 campaign, Sadio Mane scored 26 while Firmino scored 16, and it’s important those three are kept 100% happy as a result (Source: Official Liverpool website). Neville pointed out how Manchester United still opted to sign a new player when they had a similar issue, by splashing the cash on Juan Sebastián Verón in 2001, and given that he ended up leaving just two-years later then it shows how sometimes it’s better not to waste money on high-profile signings who may not be able to instantly walk into the first-team.
