4) Dejan Lovren or Mamadou Sakho
Neither of these players stood out last season, but they’re likely to be competing against each other for the second centre-back spot alongside Martin Skrtel. Lovren’s main problem is his pace, which looks woefully short at the top level, and was something which was too often exposed last season. In contrast, Sakho needs to put a succession of injury issues behind him, while he also needs to stop giving the ball away in key areas. The Frenchman looks to be the favourite thus far, having done well in both pre-season games, but his spot in the team is still not assured.