John Barnes will always be a legend to Liverpool fans who were lucky enough to watch him play at Anfield, but his stance on the club’s summer transfer activity could leave Kopites with raised eyebrows.
The Reds have yet to make any new signings during the off-season and now have just 30 days remaining to strengthen Arne Slot’s squad before the market shuts for the rest of 2024, leaving plenty of supporters in a panic.
However, speaking to the Daily Mail, ‘Digger’ is adamant that his former club don’t need to bring in any new players in the final month of the transfer window, citing the scattergun approach of one Premier League rival as an example to avoid.
Barnes said: “I wouldn’t choose any [players to sign]. Why do we think the solution to a problem is to buy players? We have lots of players. We signed five players last year.
“I’m not a big fan of football in the last 15 years where you think: ‘Let’s just keep signing players.’ Look at Chelsea, how many players they signed and where they finished. That’s not the solution. We have enough players to be competitive.”
Slot has inherited a hugely talented squad from Jurgen Klopp, and Liverpool would indeed be wise to heed the substandard results that Chelsea’s foolhardy approach in the transfer market has yielded.
However, we wouldn’t be aligned with Barnes’ insistence that the Reds don’t need to make any new signings between now and 30 August.
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The playing group was stretched to its limits last season when, at one point, there was almost a dozen injuries with which to contend; and even when those who’d been laid low did return, they looked nowhere near as sharp as what they had been prior to their layoffs.
That lack of squad depth ultimately took it toll as Liverpool’s pursuit of Premier League and Europa League glory unravelled in April, and if no new bodies are added before the transfer deadline, there’s a real risk of Slot being left threadbare at various pinch points in 2024/25.
The Reds don’t need a wild spending spree in August, but two to three additions in areas of the pitch where we still seem short of quality and backup would be highly recommended.
There’s no point in being content with our lot now and then decrying a lack of options if, as seems quite possible, the playing pick is decimated when the fixtures pile up over the winter.
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Why not just admit to the fact that you’re transfer junkies.
They cannot write click-bait stories if there are no transfers.
The Liverpool that was dominant a couple of years back had Allison, VVD, Salah and Mane as world class players. Today we have Allison as world class, VVD and Salah still effective but a big notch below world class now.
I don’t think they can climb back into the upper echelon of European players without a small handful of world class difference makers.
We got there by taking advantage of crazy Coutinho money and bought a couple of world class players. That’s what is needed. This team has a lot of decent players and won’t improve with just buying players who do not raise our ceiling. We should splash on one or two world class difference makers if we can get Wirtz, Musiala, Kudus, Guler level players. We need their cleverness and creativity to take us to the next level.
The one position we should get a very decent player if a world class one is not out there is holding mid.