Sky Sports’ Jamie Carragher said Liverpool still need to strengthen their squad in January despite spending £446m in the summer transfer window.
The Reds signed seven senior players, including Alexander Isak and Florian Wirtz, for nine-figure transfer fees, but lost 3-0 to Manchester City before the international break, leaving them eight points off the top of the Premier League.
Questions have been raised about integrating so many players at once and the challenges of getting Isak and fellow new signing Hugo Ekitike fit. Hugo Ekitike has outperformed the Swedish forward so far despite costing just half the price.
Liverpool have also looked shaky at the back, with captain Virgil van Dijk knocking down a shot that drew attention from BBC pundit Wayne Rooney, but the club’s overall defensive record this season is the seventh worst in the Premier League.
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Watch Liverpool lose 3-0 to Man City before the international break, leaving them eight points behind the leaders.
Carragher identified where his former side’s summer spending fell short, saying: “Liverpool needed to spend in January, they needed to buy a centre-back and they should have bought a centre-back in the summer.”
“They didn’t do that, but the only centre-back they got, a young Italian player, Leoni, looked great in the match he played, the Carabao Cup match. Unfortunately he injured his anterior cruciate ligament so we won’t see him until next season.”
“Liverpool will probably have to go on the market in January because one more injury to a centre-back could derail the season.
“I feel we needed to bring in so many players over the summer. If you look at the team last season, we needed to bring in a left-back because coach[Kostas]Tsimikas didn’t have a lot of faith in him.
“(Jarrell) Quansah was transferred. The manager didn’t have much faith in him. They brought in a young player, Leoni, but they still need another body.”
“They had to replace Trent (Alexander-Arnold). Harvey Elliott moved on and again the manager didn’t have much faith in him, so we went and bought another No. 10 in (Florian) Wirtz.”
“(Darwin) Nunez, the manager never trusted him, so we just went and brought in[Alexander]Isak, but obviously we are faced with a tragic situation with Diogo Jota.
“But it was a bit of a headache in that we spent a lot of money on Isaac and Ekitike, who were playing in the same position in the same summer.
“If you spend that much money and it goes one way or the other… that doesn’t seem very Liverpool-like to me and certainly doesn’t seem like the way transfer business has been done in recent years.”
Carla: “Liverpool may turn their attention to the Champions League”
With the Premier League already uncertain, having lost more games in their first 11 games than in all of last season, Carragher said Liverpool may consider using the Champions League as their best hope of winning elite silver this season.
The former Liverpool centre-back, who lifted the trophy in Istanbul in 2005 and reached the final again with the club two years later, feels the competition has become head coach Arne Slott’s passion project after Liverpool were only stopped by eventual winners PSG in last season’s competition.
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Roy Keane outlines Liverpool’s ‘crisis’ situation after defeat at Etihad Stadium
He said: “I think Slott is a bit obsessed with the Champions League. He talks a lot about PSG after losing to them last season.”
“He spoke very well of them and almost praised the loss to that team and the fact that they went on to win the tournament and how they played in the final.
“I think he loves coaching a team that plays that kind of football, and that’s how he envisions his team playing at their best.
“That’s why behind the scenes last season, he said Liverpool were in charge and he wanted more talent. You can see that in the players he brought in. But if you’re going to spend that much money, you have to be one of the favorites to win the Champions League.
“Actually, I happened to meet Arne Slott in the summer when he was away. We were both on holiday and he was there with his family, so I thanked him for what Liverpool had done last season, winning the league. Then he introduced me to his wife and children as the Champions League winner.
“And I felt like he was thinking, ‘That’s our next step.’ You could feel it in his words. We won the league, but we want to win the Champions League too, that’s what it was.”
“And that’s been on his mind for a long time. I know he’s hungry for it, like all top managers, but being the manager of Liverpool, the club is synonymous with the Champions League, so we have to get close to that.”
