Former Liverpool midfielder Paul Ince believes that the Anfield club need to make several signings in the summer if they are to continue making progress under Jurgen Klopp and warned that they cannot continue to be so reliant on their three main attacking options.
Despite spending less than £9.5m on transfers in the last 12 months, with most of that figure commanded by Takumi Minamino’s January arrival, the Reds have established a 25-point lead in the Premier League, winning all but two of their 29 matches in the division so far. The goals of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino have gone a long way to accumulating such a dominant position, although Ince thinks that Liverpool need greater competition for the trio if they are to avoid regressing.
Speaking to Goal.com, he said: “You always have to build and you can never be complacent about what you have done the year before. There’s always probably one or two players you need to add to keep improving it. It has been tough because you look at the front three – Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino and Mohamed Salah – they have played every game. The strength in depth hasn’t been enough to get them rest. Liverpool have been fortunate in that department. [Virgil] van Dijk has not been injured.
“They have had the same tight-knit team winning games galore. Things can change next year. Barcelona or Real Madrid could come in and take Salah or Virgil van Dijk. You just don’t know. So you always have to be prepared for players who can have their heads turned like [Philippe] Coutinho was.
“They will have targets. Four or five players to strengthen again. I am not sure what will happen this season but they are out of the Champions League which they will be disappointed about. The big teams have to keep on improving. You have got to have competition because it excites the players and keep them on their toes. If you have new signings, then you step up again and it stops complacency from last year. These players coming in expect to play. Competition is healthy.”
Ince makes a fair point about Liverpool’s reliance on the main front three of Salah, Mane and Firmino. They have scored 20, 18 and 11 goals respectively this season and are the only members of Klopp’s squad to hit double figures with roughly three-quarters of the campaign gone. Divock Origi is their next most potent attacker with five goals, two of which came in a Carabao Cup tie against Arsenal. Winger Xherdan Shaqiri has netted only once all season, having struggled badly for game-time, while Minamino is yet to get off the mark, albeit with sparse opportunities to do so.
As Ince has stated, Klopp has been able to call on his main front three for the vast majority of the season, with each of them managing to stave off injuries often enough to clock up more than 3,000 minutes of game-time. Should even one be missing for several matches in succession, the replacements would have a tall order trying to compensate for the absence of an established attacker. Origi was given a chance from the start against Chelsea in the FA Cup this month and ended up being pilloried by numerous Reds fans for an ineffective display in a 0-2 defeat.
Klopp’s attacking options could soon be trimmed if, as claimed by the Liverpool Echo, Shaqiri is moved on in the summer. The Reds have been linked with a possible replacement in Jadon Sancho (as per Daily Mail), although The Athletic‘s James Pearce recently claimed that the Borussia Dortmund winger would unlikely be signed if the Merseysiders land another transfer target in RB Leipzig striker Timo Werner. Also, there is the firm possibility of Salah and Mane being unavailable for several weeks next winter if their respective countries qualify for the Africa Cup of Nations in January/February 2021.
Klopp’s loyalty to an attacking trio who have proven so reliable is understandable but, as Ince has pointed out, Liverpool seem overly reliant on those three front men to make a difference in games. Also, from next season, the Reds could well be the hunted rather than the hunters, so a reinforcement of their attacking options may well be needed if they are to stay on top instead of being left trailing in the wake of rivals who will undoubtedly be keen to topple them from their perch, if indeed they go on to clinch the Premier League title.
Liverpool fans, is Ince right in saying that the club need to strengthen in the summer, particularly in attack? Have your say by commenting below!
