Looking Forward for Liverpool.

Finally, after thirty years since their last league title, Jürgen Klopp and Liverpool have brought the title back to Anfield, raising their League Trophy tally up to nineteen, one behind their rivals Manchester United. Now, it has been some time since the team was crowned champions of England and now Jürgen Klopp has the task of attempting to repeat as champions and full credit to him in overhauling the squad he was given back in October of 2015 when he was appointed manager. He took a squad with a few gems and got rid of the deadwood and replaced them. Following both Dejan Lovren’s and Adam Lallana’s recent departures from the club, the only remaining remember from that 14/15 squad is Jordan Henderson who not only captained the club to the league title this season but was awarded the FWA Player of the Year Award.

In the summer of 2019, before the start of the 19/20 season, Klopp only made two notable signings, Sepp van den Berg, a teenage defender from PEC Zwolle in the Netherlands and Adrián, West Ham’s keeper. Now, Sepp van den Berg didn’t see any playtime in the season just gone as he is seen as more of a player for the future. Adrián on the other hand however did see some play time at the start of the season after their number 1, Alisson went down with a calf injury only 40 minutes into Gameweek 1 in Liverpool’s 4-1 win over Norwich. Luckily for the reds, Adrián proved to be a decent backup playing in eleven games for them and had penalty heroics in the UEFA Super Cup final against Chelsea saving the last spot kick from Tammy Abraham to capture another trophy for Liverpool. However it wasn’t all well for Adrián, as it is with every keeper, they’re bound to make errors eventually and Adrián is no different, his keeping was called into question after Marcos Llorente scored twice to eliminate the defending champs. In the January transfer window, they were able to capture Japanese winger Takumi Minamino from RB Salzburg who actually scored against Liverpool in the champions league in matchday 2. However he was unable to pick up any goals in fourteen appearances, only six  of which were starts, however he is only twenty five and will look to improve next season. So far this summer the reds have only made one signing in left back, Konstantinos Tsimikas from Olympiacos, likely to be a back up for Andy Robertson. Other than that there were link’s to Bayern’s Thiago Alcantara however those links have seemed to dry up.

Now, despite having two excellent back to back campaigns  in the league, one may say, if it isn’t broken, don’t fix it. However, when you look at Liverpool’s competition almost all of them have made strides to improve. The main challengers to dethrone Liverpool in the 2020/2021 season is Manchester City who have already made two stunning signings in Nathan Aké and Ferran Torres. This would be key in the hunt to get back the Premier League trophy from Liverpool as they missed Laporte for a huge part of the campaign and Sane for practically the entire season. Without Laporte, Guardiola had to  play Fernandinho and Rodri at CB at points throughout the season due to John Stones and Nicolás Otamendi being not up to par. Now they have made the necessary signings to make the push for the title. Manchester City aren’t the only teams that have made great signings. Frank Lampard did an amazing job with the squad he was given getting them into the Champions League.He now has reaped an aggressive version of Chelsea in the transfer market to make swift improvements ahead of next season. Already, two amazing attacking signings in Hakim Ziyech and Timo Werner both excellent attackers that will help the brilliant Christian Pulisic who caught form coming to the end of the season and played a huge role in securing the fourth place for Chelsea. With rumours this week of more big names in Thiago Silva and Kai Havertz expect to make the move to London, it seems their eyes would be on the pinnacle of English football.

Staying in London, both Jose Mourinho and Mikel Arteta will have a summer to remove the deadwood in their squad and make the signings required to compete more competently for top 4. With Pierre-Emile Højbjerg already confirmed for Spurs and Gabriel all but done for the Gunners, they have begun identifying and addressing their needs. Then, Manchester United are knocking on Dortmund’s door to sign Jadon Sancho which would complete their front three with Martial and Rashford. Also, they will have a full season of Bruno Fernandes who looks like a brilliant signing after arriving in January got eight goals and seven assists and carried United to a third place finish. 

So with all their rivals getting stronger, Liverpool needs the depth to ensure that they make a successful defence of their title in the upcoming 2020/2021 season. Some areas Liverpool may seek to target in the upcoming window; get Virgil Van Dijk a good partner in the back. Secondly, get a capable backup for TAA so he can be rested. Thirdly get that Thiago Alcantara deal finished and finally, get a backup Striker/Winger that can be a spark plug off the bench and can offer something different should any one of the deadly front three of Salah, Firmino and Mané have an off night. 


- Shivanand Maharaj