What’s this feeling… happiness? It’s not something we’ve felt about a summer signing for quite sometime, but the much-maligned transfer committee have pulled off the seemingly impossible and splashed the cash on a world class star in Roberto Firmino.
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It’s a deal that continues an extremely encouraging transfer window for us, a window which is still very much in its infancy – when was the last time we, or indeed any other top level team, signed five new players by the middle of June?
James Milner, Danny Ings, Adam Bogdan, Joe Gomez and Firmino… all for little more than £30m (via the Liverpool Echo) – could we have asked for much better than that? The first four names on that list produced a muted level of excitement amongst us supporters, but it’s hard to argue against the fact that they were all necessary additions, and now things are really getting interesting.
In Milner, we’ve signed a reliable, experienced, solid replacement for Steven Gerrard. He’s rarely let anyone down over the last decade and we would have struggled to find anyone more consistent. He’s not a long term solution to replacing our iconic captain but he’s just what we need right now.
Ings won’t be our first choice up front but he did well at Burnley last season – scoring more goals than any of our strikers – while he’s also young and full of potential. He should provide something a little different to Daniel Sturridge and Divock Origi, while like the latter he’s still eager to prove himself as the very top level.
Bogdan is better than Brad Jones. He’s played more games in both of the top two divisions and for his country. He’s perhaps not the direct rival for Simon Mignolet that we might have hoped for, but he’ll – to coin a hideous football cliché – do a job.
Gomez is young, exciting and definitely one for the future. Between him and the rapidly improving Tiago Ilori, we can take heart in the fact that there will be life in our defence after Martin Skrtel does eventually go.
As for Firmino, regardless of whether he’s meant as a replacement for Raheem Sterling or not, he’s just what we need – someone to get people talking and someone who has rejuvenated the faith of the Liverpool fans.
So as everything has gone so swimmingly so far, let’s be greedy, what else do we need?
A right-back is clearly a must. Glen Johnson has gone and Jon Flanagan will once again miss much of the season through injury. Nathaniel Clyne looks to be on the verge of a move and there’s little arguing with the fact that the Southampton man – linked here by the Metro – would be the perfect solution to our problem position.
We’d also like a left-back. Jose Enrique will surely be among those leaving us this summer, having barely featured over the last two years, and it would be encouraging to have a decent rival to Alberto Moreno’s position in the team.
Working up the field, a defensive midfielder – someone who can break up the play and flatten opposition forwards in the same way Javier Mascherano used to do for us – would not go amiss. Mateo Kovacic is clearly the first name that springs to mind – as The Independent reports – although we’d arguably like someone even more physical… how about William Carvalho for instance?
Finishing the list is another striker. Ings is good, Firmino is great, but we’re still missing that marquee addition at the top of the field that we’re so desperately craving. Either Carlos Bacca or Solomon Rondon – both linked to us by Sky Sports – would complete a dream summer.
Dream is of course a subjective word here. Are we being unrealistic to think that such a spending spree could happen? No one would have thought we’d do as well as we have thus far and if we can sell a couple more of our fringe players to raise funds, who’s to say that we couldn’t be looking at a very different team next season.
What do you think Reds, who do you want and who do you think we’ll get?