There’s been a lot said this summer – good and bad – about the Reds’ seven new arrivals – questions about whether they’ll fit the Liverpool style, whether we’re getting value for money and whether they’ll be able to perform with the consistency that so many of our players were lacking last season.
However, one of the most important questions has often gone overlooked – are we better off than we were this time last year? Have we brought in enough quality to ensure that there is no repeat of the trouble we found ourselves in last season, when a disastrous start and finish to the season saw us finish in sixth place.
In the list below we compare each of our new signings with the man they have replaced – or realistically will replace – in Brendan Rodgers’ squad. This includes looking at the strengths and weakness of both players, the amount of money that it cost us to do the deal, and whether or not we’ll be better off for the change.
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Click through the pages below and see if you agree with our observations…
Adam Bogdan – Brad Jones
Brad Jones never looked quite good enough during his brief foray into the Liverpool first-team last season. A couple of forgettable performances against Manchester United and Arsenal – in which he conceded five goals – were probably enough to ensure he wouldn’t be getting a new contract. He was a loyal servant to Liverpool down the years but was never anything more than a back-up player, as his lack of top flight experience elsewhere proves.
In contrast, Adam Bogdan comes to us having been a regular for a solid Championship club and with plenty of top flight experience to his name as well. The 27-year-old is a Hungarian international and proved against us last season, in the FA Cup, that he’s a more than capable shot-stopper. He’s far more agile than Jones and his reflexes have always looked excellent. The only question mark is whether he can get to grips with communicating with a shaky centre-back pairing.
Yes, we’d all have liked a bigger name who could really challenge Mignolet for his spot on a consistent basis. But Bogdan was brought in on a free and will be on similar wages to Jones – so this one is a win all round.
Transfer Approval Rating – 8/10
Nathaniel Clyne – Glen Johnson
Glen Johnson won’t be missed by many at Anfield. Despite making 200 appearances in all competitions, after signing from Portsmouth in 2009, he’s never truly lived up to the huge potential he had upon arriving at the club. His much maligned defensive abilities are something that Clyne must correct, while the former Southampton man will also be expected to deliver a better quality of cross – particularly with Christian Benteke waiting to pounce.
In many ways, you could be forgiven for thinking that Clyne is simply a younger version of his predecessor – a quick, attacking full-back who loves to get forward. However, he won’t leave the back-line anywhere near as exposed, as the statistics will tell you. The 24-year-old won 3.3 tackles per game and made 1.8 interceptions per game last season, compared to Johnson, who carded 1.6 and 0.9 respectively.
This could well prove to be our most important signing of the summer. We needed a full-back who will play regularly and that we can rely on to turn in consistent performances, something we just didn’t have last year.
Transfer Approval Rating – 9/10
Joe Gomez – Javier Manquillo
Manquillo, like Gomez, was a talented young player with bags of potential. However, he was simply overwhelmed by the whole situation – adapting to a new country, a new environment and a new way of life – problems that Gomez won’t have to deal with. The Spaniard barely featured after Christmas of last year and it’s ultimately not a surprise that we chose to end his loan deal early. He particularly struggled going forward and supporting attacks, so his lack of threat is arguably what cost him.
Gomez looks an absolute bargain. His ability to play anywhere across the defensive line could make him a highly valuable squad player this season, while the ability he’s shown in our pre-season matches suggest he could even rival Alberto Moreno for the left-back spot. He’s shown a level of concentration that has to be admired in someone so young – he stays on his feet, rather than diving into tackles, and he is calm and collected in possession.
Manquillo seemed like a strange signing last summer. Gomez, three years his junior, can really be considered one for the future. Unlikely Manquillo, he has plenty to offer straight away as well. Excellent deal all round.
Transfer Approval Rating – 8/10
James Milner – Steven Gerrard
How can you replace Steven Gerrard? The honest answer is… you can’t. Milner really is trying to do the impossible this season, by taking over the spot in our midfield that has for so long been reserved for our greatest ever player. There are differences in their games, of course, but the fact that we chose to sign Milner in the same summer that our iconic No. 8 moved on proves that he’s the man designated with the task of leading us into the new era.
The 29-year-old is, in many ways, a very underrated footballer. We never truly saw the best of him at Manchester City, where he was something of a utility man, and one hopes that he’ll benefit from featuring more regularly in his favoured position. His passing and ball retention is excellent, qualities which are vitally important for any Brendan Rodgers player – but particularly a central midfielder. He and Henderson must keep us ticking over throughout.
Bringing in Milner felt like the safest option – we know exactly what we’re going to get from him and he’s thoroughly proven at this level. To get him on a free transfer as well was a huge bonus. He’s not Gerrard, but he could be just what we need right now.
Transfer Approval Rating – 7/10
Roberto Firmino – Raheem Sterling
Raheem Sterling – it’s hard to so much as utter his name after the atrocities he committed this summer. He will be given a fearsome reception at Anfield next season and deserves every inch of the backlash that awaits him. However – and we say this with a heavy heart – there is little arguing with his quality. He was the best young player in the world last year. There are faults in his game – notably his finishing – and he might not actually get any better. But the way in which we lost him was still a regrettable finale to a horrid situation.
Firmino is a quality player. He’s not a direct replacement – they play in different positions and have different roles within the team – but he does play in the same area of the pitch and is subsequently likely to be continuously compared with the man that preceded him. His price tag was large, for someone whose career is still in its infancy, and we’ve been burned before with such deals – see Lazar Markovic for a recent example. Thankfully, his all round game feels far more developed, so let’s hope that he can come good.
We’ve said this a lot this summer – but we did the best we could under the restrictions we’re working under – both financially and in terms of our lack of Champions League football. Unfortunately, Firmino remains something of an unknown quantity and this is a risk, regardless of how good he could be.
Transfer Approval Rating – 6/10
Danny Ings – Rickie Lambert
Rickie Lambert’s move to Liverpool was arguably damned from the very beginning. He simply doesn’t fit our style of play – he’s a traditional target man, who will hold the ball up, and look to poach chances inside the area. We couldn’t get enough around him, on the rare occasions that he did get on the pitch, to bring the best out of him. He often found himself isolated and he doesn’t have the speed or skill to get himself more involved with the game.
Ings is a hungry young player who could be just what we need in terms of a back-up striker. He might have only managed 11 Premier League goals with Burnley last season, but this is someone who has everything to prove and a steely determination to succeed that can only be admired. His finishing needs work but all the other elements of his game – the work-rate and the movement – are there. He’ll need to make the most of his chances but there’s plenty of reasons to be encouraged.
This is a simple one – Ings is far more suited to being a Liverpool player than Lambert and he’ll score more goals than the big man did last year. The deal to get Ings should be a relatively cheap one and he’s well worth a gamble.
Transfer Approval Rating – 8/10
Christian Benteke – Mario Balotelli
What more can we say about Mario Balotelli. We know that the ability is in there somewhere, waiting to be unlocked, but like Lambert he’s struggled with being isolated at the top of the Liverpool attack. We all know that signing the Italian was a gamble, something hastily done to try and fill the void left by Luis Suarez’s departure, but few could have envisaged it going so badly. Balotelli’s constant look of lethargy is enough to fill most fans with an overwhelming sense of hopelessness and that was something which had to change.
Benteke will have a lot of work to do if he’s to prove value for money. He’s definitely more than the target man-type player that a lot of Liverpool fans are fearing he’ll prove to be, although his aerial dominance should still remain a key feature of his game. He has an excellent chance conversion rate – only four players in Europe were better off during the second-half of last season (via ESPN) – and his ability to lead the line, both on his own and alongside a partner, is something we’ve been crying out for.
He can’t do any worse than what’s come before, can he? The price tag is going to hang over him, almost regardless of how many goals he scores next season, so let’s hope that he can start firing as soon as possible.
Transfer Approval Rating – 6/10
Overall Approval Rate: 74.29%
On paper, we’re in a much better position than we were at this stage last season. In terms of quality, that’s almost impossible to question – the players we’ve brought in should all produce more than those we’ve let go. We’ve brought in a healthy mix of youth and experience – helping us adjust to the post Gerrard era – and we’ve managed to limit our spending by bring in a couple of freebies.
The only criticism can be the lack of real big names, although as we’ve alluded to, that really had to be expected considering our current situation. There’s still plenty to excite the fans next season and hopefully it will be healthy to build a team, rather than to be reliant on one or two individuals.
