Reds signings excite Whelan but he fears City will retain title
RONNIE WHELAN was 28 when he helped Liverpool win their last league title in 1990.
When you consider the Irishman is now double that age, you can understand why he hesitates to say this could finally be the year.
After a £186million summer spend on Alisson, Naby Keita, Fabinho and Xherdan Shaqiri – on top of the £75m January swoop for Virgil van Dyke – Whelan believes Liverpool have assembled their strongest squad for years.
And in Jurgen Klopp he says they have a manager who has given the team a clear identity, an exciting playing style, built an affinity with the fans and is a man who puts the club before his own ego.
But there is still one big problem in Whelan’s eyes – Manchester City.
The former midfielder, who won six league titles and played nearly 500 games for the club, said: “We seem to say every year, ‘Is this going to be the season that ends the long wait?’ And then it doesn’t happen.
“Manchester City have gone so far ahead of other clubs – even Manchester United and Chelsea at times – in terms of what they were paying for players, and Liverpool weren’t able to do it. Now it seems that they are getting closer. Over the last couple of years or so they seem to have been buying better players and building a better team.”
Whelan is impressed by all four new signings and defends the £67m fee for Brazil goalkeeper Alisson.
“If you are going to get the best, it’s the going rate these days,” said Whelan. “Look at City. They needed two new full-backs last summer and bought probably the best two – Kyle Walker and Benjamin Mendy – for £50 m each. Liverpool had to fork out for Alisson because they were in trouble with goalkeepers.
“His distribution is unbelievable. You think you are in a little bit of trouble and he will ping one out to the full-back near the halfway line.
“He is a big unit and looks like he’s better than anything Liverpool have had for a good while. Like Van Dyke, he will help to calm everyone down at the back. The defenders will have more confidence in him than the other two goalkeepers they have. “Keita is like Kante at Chelsea. He’s energetic, gets around the pitch, wins the ball back for the team – and is pretty clever with the ball as well. “If there is a problem, he puts his foot in a bit too much at times and he will get himself a card unnecessarily. But he’s not going to back away from a fight. Sometimes you have to fight for 90 minutes to win. “Fabinho showed his qualities for Monaco when they reached the Champions League semi-finals a couple of years back, knocking City out on the way. He can be the sitting midfielder and looks very controlled.. “Shaqiri is magnificent and will be good cover and competition for the other front-runners. He has great feet and vision and is very good with free-kicks. He is capable of the unpredictable, as he showed with that overhead kick against United in pre-season. “But his work-rate going backwards is virtually non-existent. He will learn when and why he has to defend and will become a better player.” Liverpool have gone into a season with similar optimism before. Whelan added: “They finished second under Gerard Houllier, Rafa Benitez and Brendan Rodgers but fell away the following season because they brought in players who were not as good as what they had already. Those managers didn’t do what Klopp has done this time – bring in better players. “Liverpool have gone back to the Bob Paisley and Kenny Dalglish days by buying players to play the system they want to play. “It’s the strongest squad I can remember for a long time. There are seasoned professionals to fill the bench. This is a squad to get in the Champions League every year and they are going the right way, but can it get to the pinnacle and get ahead of Manchester City? “Maybe not this year. It might take another year or two but the signs are as good as they have been for a long time.”
LIVERPOOL beat Torino 3-1 at Anfield last night. New signing Fabinho missed a penalty but Roberto Firmino, Georginio Wijnaldum and Daniel Sturridge scored for the home side.