After putting an end to a 30-year wait for Premier League glory last season, Liverpool FC supporters will undoubtedly be looking towards their beloved side to defend the league crown amid the increasing competition in England’s top-flight football.
Chelsea and Manchester City are all set to provide a nail-biting challenge to the Reds for silverware this coming season, judging by both club’s spending in the ongoing transfer window. While Chelsea FC have been relentless in their player recruitment of late, Pep Guardiola’s side have been a bit more systematic in their transfer approach, looking to bring in certain quality talents to fill the areas of problem that came to notice last season.
As for Liverpool, a large section of the supporters have repeatedly voiced their concerns over Jurgen Klopp’s inability to fork out large amounts of money to sign world-class options. German sensation Timo Werner’s signing was hijacked by Frank Lampard’s Chelsea, despite the 24-year old striker understood to be favoring a move to Anfield.
Since the Werner transfer saga, the Merseyside giants have added a sole player to their first-team squad ahead of the 2020-21 season. Greek national team full-back Kostas Tsimikas joined Klopp’s side for an £11.75 million fee, a great decision made the club’s management to provide adequate squad depth for the defensive core of the Reds.
However, what many Liverpool FC fans are wondering is whether the addition of just one player to a side that stormed to the Premier League title last season would be sufficient enough to ward off the intense level of competition provided by the rival clubs. It is fair to judge Liverpool FC’s transfer business this summer as shallow, with mid-table sides Wolves and Tottenham Hotspurs being more proactive in the market.
But does Klopp have a game plan for the Anfield giants that the supporters are turning a blind eye to? The German, now a loved figure within the Merseyside club’s folklore, is by no means an inexperienced football manager who chooses to ignore the fine margin of things within his club’s operations. Klopp has endured prior spells, be it at Borussia Dortmund or Liverpool FC, where he has not had the financial might to pull off big-money signings enjoyed by his fellow managerial counterparts.
Nevertheless, the 53-year old has outclassed opponents at the highest level of football, as witnessed by the Reds’ trophy run over the course of the past two years. Gambles on bargain price singings have paid off handsomely for Klopp, and the Liverpool FC boss will surely be optimistic about the Anfield giants’ exceeding their historic run of showings last season in the years to come as well.
For now, the German is believed to be fixated upon making Thiago Alcantara’s highly speculated move to the Merseyside club a reality. The Bayern Munich maestro is seen as a solution to the lack of creativity often associated with Liverpool FC’s three-man midfield by Klopp. Negotiations with the Bundesliga giants have been non-stop over the weeks; however, a transfer fee still remains to be sorted out by both parties despite the player being very keen on turning out for the Reds next season.
Further departures from Anfield are expected to continue with the summer transfer window running until 4th October. Marko Grujic, Harry Wilson, and Nathan Philips are some of the players whose futures hang in the balance heading into Liverpool FC’s first game of the 2020-21 Premier League campaign against Leeds United next week.
With a wide-ranging crop of quality talents emerging from the Reds’ youth academy over the years, Klopp would be highly enticed to give the youngsters a chance to showcase their aptitude for the club’s senior squad, be it in domestic cup fixtures or in the unprecedented case of an injury crisis to first-team stars.
Whether Klopp’s men improve upon their performance from last season or fail to work upon their accumulated success garnered in recent times, will be seen only when Liverpool FC set aside the skepticism surrounding the club’s transfer business and play their natural brand of football which has made them one of the feared teams in the continent.
