Jamie Carragher has been left ‘disappointed’ by Liverpool’s activity (or lack thereof) in the summer transfer window.
Four players have been added to Andoni Iraola’s squad since the end of last season – Jeremy Jacquet (signed seven months ago), Victor Munoz, Ronald Araujo (on loan) and recent big-money addition Bradley Barcola.
Mo Salah, Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate all departed on free transfers, with Curtis Jones sold to Inter Milan and several players leaving on loan, including Harvey Elliott to Valencia.
Speaking to Sky Sports on transfer deadline day, Carragher feels that Liverpool’s squad is lopsided in certain posiitons and that other areas have been neglected.
The former Reds defender said: “I’m disappointed. I’m not quite sure what we’re going to do on that right wing right now. It doesn’t look a balanced squad. Liverpool are short in full-back areas and probably a midfield player as well.”
He also accused the club of taking a ‘Real Madrid’ approach of buying ‘the best player on the market for the most money’ rather than addressing what the squad needs in order to maximise team cohesion.
Carragher added: “I sit there scratching my head and thinking, ‘We’ve got four left wingers; we haven’t got one right winger.’ Something like that just doesn’t feel right to me.
“Liverpool won the league just over a year ago. We spent an awful lot of money since then and I don’t think anybody inside Liverpool or Liverpool supporters really believe we can win the league this season, or the manager’s got the tools to go and win the league this season, and that just doesn’t feel right.”
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Carragher’s concerns are likely to be shared by many Reds supporters, with sporting director Richard Hughes leaving Iraola with a somewhat unbalanced squad and failing to address some crucial positions.
The weaknesses at right-back and in terms of defensive midfield have been glaring in the opening fortnight of the season, while the lack of a natural right-sided winger (other than the sporadically used Federico Chiesa) also seems difficult to fathom when the other flank is so heavily stocked.
The likes of Munoz, Cody Gakpo and Rio Ngumoha are all versatile enough to operate on either wing (albeit that the latter has been discernibly more effective on the left), and Barcola is also capable of lining out anywhere across the forward line to correspond with the team’s needs.
Liverpool seem to have purchased smartly with the players they did bring in – Jacquet and Munoz have looked impressive in their first few games, Araujo has shown promise off the bench and Barcola comes in as a proven performer in the Champions League, a trophy that he’s already won twice.
However, it’s the positions that Hughes didn’t address which has left Carragher and the fan base justifiably worried as summer turns to autumn and the market is shut until January, by which time we’ll hopefully be at least on course to fulfil pre-season expectations.
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We are seeing a massive difference between what Michael Edwards delivered under klopp and what Richard Hughes has done since he became sporting director.
Under Edwards the signings were shrewd, and players were brought in in key positions to improve the team.
Richard Hughes has been a scattergun approach with no thought of building a team, marquee signings, he’s built a team of individual talent without the foundations .
The main reason why we’ve declined is a bad sporting director. Huge money on the wrong players in the wrong positions.
Whoever the next sporting director is, he has to be better than Richard Hughes. Or even better appoint a manager who’s got the say on transfers.
Michael Edwards signings just a few. Alisson, van dijk, matip, fabinho, wjinaldum, Salah, mane, firmino, jota, Diaz , konate, Robertson.
You live and die with the players you buy.
Isn’t Carvajal available and out of contract? I am sure we could get him on a short term deal, I think that we should be talking to him. He is 34 and could he really be worse than Frimpong. At the very least he might be able to mentor the headless chicken into showing some defensive prowess.
Mahrez is available too I believe, but maybe 7 years too late!
No sign of a No.6, nor a RB? Be ready, LFC fans, for more goals conceded this season.
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