Liverpool still have plenty of time to make more transfers, and those will undoubtedly happen. The requirements for this summer are well known to Jürgen Klopp and FSG.
Some Liverpool fans are already doubting the Reds’ rebuild less than two weeks into the summer transfer window and 69 days before the deadline. There is impatience, perhaps more so than anywhere else, on social media.
The truth is that more signings will come in after Alexis MacAllister, and there is still plenty of time before there is any reason to panic. The other Premier League teams haven’t generated much revenue either, it’s important to keep in mind.
Declan Rice will almost certainly cost someone — most likely Arsenal or Manchester City — three times as much as Mac Allister did for Liverpool, but he won’t have nearly as much of an impact. Another player who will add depth but not much of a game-changer, despite being a significant investment, is Kai Havertz, who Mikel Arteta is also trying to sign.
If Manchester United were to submit a fourth, acceptable offer for the 24-year-old Chelsea star Mason Mount (which, according to The Athletic, would need to be worth a total of $83 million, £65 million, or €76 million including add-ons), that would be a pricey addition for a team that already has a number of more pressing problems to address.
Liverpool are not falling behind; in fact, they’re far ahead of many of their competitors thanks to the acquisition of a crucial target that will make a big difference right away.
Even if Jürgen Klopp’s team is ready for the start of preseason, that is the best-case scenario for Liverpool at this point and it is still a bit of a moving target.
The first Liverpool players will return for preseason practice on July 8, but those who have been away on international duty will have a little more time. The first game of the new season, which will be played away at Chelsea, is still 50 days away.
Khéphren Thuram is one of the midfielders that Liverpool are hoping to sign, and two more would also be ideal. The addition of someone like Nicol Barella or Aurélien Tchouaméni might be possible in a fantasy scenario, but there are far more likely candidates than those two.
With an eye on Thiago’s contract expiring in 2024, Liverpool will add at least one more player to the middle of the field, but two more would really cover all the bases and guarantee a successful season in 2019.
As a left-sided player is a priority for the Reds in the market this summer, Football Insider reported this week that Liverpool will ‘100%’ sign a defender as well.
The best-case scenario would be achieved if that could be secured early on, along with a few more midfielders, positioning Liverpool perfectly for a crucial start to the season. Things could change suddenly on the transfer market.
The worst scenario would be to experience a delay in incomings and, let’s say, sign just one more midfielder. However, even in that scenario, Liverpool would still experience a significant improvement in its midfield’s skill level and capacity for maintaining fitness and availability.
In the Premier League last season, Mac Allister alone logged more minutes than James Milner, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita, and Arthur Melo put together. The Argentine should be backed to have a greater impact than any of those four.
