Under new manager Arne Slot, Liverpool have tweaked the formation from Klopp’s regime and changed the shape of their midfield. They have lined up two midfielders at the bottom of midfield, with Dutch midfielder Ryan Gravenberch instead of Japan midfielder Wataru Endo, who was a regular last season.
The club chased a defensive midfielder in the summer transfer window who was competing with the 22-year-old Dutch midfielder for a starting place, but could not add anyone to the midfield. Looking towards the future, the club acquired Georgian goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili and brought Italian international Federico Chiesa into the team as a reserve for Mohamed Salah.
Still, with a well-stocked squad, Liverpool will be aiming to win the Premier League. Former England defender Jamie Carragher, who was once vice-captain at Anfield, said of his old club’s reinforcement policy that he would not hesitate to invest his budget if the players met his requirements.
“They’re very much pushing [to win the Premier League title], as they were last season. We shouldn’t forget that,”
“They haven’t reinforced. It’ll be really interesting to see if Liverpool do bring anyone in in January. They didn’t bring too much in in the summer. And if they think they’ve got a realistic chance at the title and there’s a player that they feel fits their criteria, their model, I think they’ll pay the money to bring that player in.”
Sky Sports
Liverpool are expected to move to secure a new defensive midfielder this winter and will be looking for summer revenge. Other urgent reinforcements could also be made in their respective positions, depending on the progress of Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold, who are still in talks to renew their contracts.
The players are expected to be replaced in the coming years in order to achieve coach Slot’s preferred style of play, but will he be able to acquire players in this winter transfer window as well…?