Times journalist Jonathan Northcroft has provided an explanation over why he believes the Reds have been slow to make any moves so far in the summer transfer window.
After racking up a total of 97 points in the Premier League last term, Liverpool would have been crowned champions in any other season, but an equally remarkable effort from Manchester City denied them a famous double of trophies from the 2018/19 campaign.
Looking back at the season, Jurgen Klopp’s side does not really have any significant flaws which will need to be corrected ahead of next year.
Speculation about potential transfer deals has continued anyway, and with just over a month left before the start of the new season, Liverpool are yet to complete any major signings.
Jonathan Northcroft, a reliable journalist from the Times, has attempted to explain why the Reds are still dragging their feet in the transfer market with pre-season looming.
“I think this is a sign of Liverpool’s evolution. They’ve been building towards getting themselves in this position probably for six years now,” he said, speaking to The Transfer Window podcast
“And I spoke to Michael Edwards, the sporting director, about this last year.
“They feel they’ve gone through that phase of trying to sign in volume and trying to sign players to develop, to take the club forward on the pitch, to a position where they are almost complete.
“I think that’s the phrase I heard around Liverpool, talking about transfers last year: almost complete.
“That doesn’t mean complacent about anything, but that means a feeling that they’ve got a high-grade squad, high-grade players in most positions, and most importantly that the manager really identifies with and wants.
“And now they’re in a position where they can just pick off—they feel—the top players that they need at the top end of the market.
“So Van Dijk and Alisson for world-record fees, I think is a trend that we’ll see continuing.
“And I expect to see Liverpool biding their time, trying to sort out smaller deals—outgoings, like Simon Mignolet for example, some of the younger players going on loan, tying up Divock Origi on a new contract, which I expect to happen.
“[Then] saving their energies for maybe signing a couple of very young players to develop and trying to pick off those top players at the top end of the market that are going to take them forward.
“I think that is the position all clubs will want to be in, it’s the exact opposite of the overheated situation United are in.
“Liverpool will be working from lists that they’ve compiled over the last three or four, five years even, but now they’ll be working on the one, two or three choices, and maybe not from choices one to 10.
“They can afford to look at the cream now.”