Klopp needs to have the financial clout to take on City or else Liverpool could lose their greatest asset
THERE’S a very real danger that not only Arsenal, but Chelsea and Tottenham could soon overtake Liverpool in the hierarchy of English football.
And my fear is that if the Gunners beat my old team by two or three goals today – or by any scoreline in a game which sees Liverpool playing particularly poorly – we could be witnessing the egg timer being turned over on the end of Jurgen Klopp’s Anfield reign.
I’m not going so far as to say it’s panic stations on Merseyside just yet.
Yes, they almost lost to Brighton at home last week in that thrilling 3-3 draw, but the Seagulls have been flying high in the table. I don’t expect that
COLLY to continue too deep into the season, and nor do I expect to see Liverpool languishing in mid-table for too long.
Even so, a fundamental revision of what the Reds must do regarding their recruitment is needed now if they are to be the team which competes with Manchester City for the Premier League title in the next five seasons and with the big boys in the Champions League for that period as well.
Monster
And what will be crucial in among all that is getting Klopp looking and sounding like the mentality monster we know he can be again, with that big toothy smile and the throwaway quips.
We have grown so used to seeing those reactions on the back of dynamic displays by his team. But when I look at and listen to him now, he appears a bit tired, a bit weather-beaten.
A bit like a man who thinks, ‘I’ve done everything for you here and even if you give me half of what City are potentially going to be spending every season, then I can tag them with that.
‘But if you are only going to give me what you currently give me, I’m going to struggle to keep up with them and I’m going to struggle to keep my mentality monster attitude.
‘And that might mean me going off to join Real Madrid, Barcelona, Paris Saint-germain or Bayern Munich down the line’. Financial apathy is the biggest threat to Liverpool Football Club right now, at a time when City aren’t going away and, in three or four years, Newcastle will be a relative player at the pointy end of the league as well.
That’s why the temptation must be starting to creep in for Klopp to trade Liverpool for another job, even if it’s only the slightest temptation as things stand.
Some will argue, of course, that he has had money to spend and that’s why he has broken so many glass ceilings
If Klopp gets the cash he’needs then he s the one manager in world football who can take on Guardiola with substance & style
Realisation is dawning that Harry Maguire is the only solid central defensive Southgate in the past but because the cast beneath him, such as AC Milan’s
for Liverpool. But he hasn’t had ‘City money’ to spend, he has not had the ability to sign an Erling Haaland for £60million-odd on wages of £400,000 a week or whatever he is on.
I worry that they might miss out on Jude Bellingham next summer, too.
Because, if City blow everyone else out of the water on wages, he won’t just go to a Liverpool or a Manchester United.
Look, no one is saying Liverpool and FSG should bankrupt themselves, but they at least need to give Klopp the tools he needs to aggressively take on not only Arsenal, Chelsea, Newcastle or Brighton, but City, too.
And if they do that, then he’s the one manager in world football who can take on Guardiola with substance
and style. But if they drop off, then someone who is a routine winner and has taken Liverpool to new levels won’t be happy with the feeling he is waiting for the crumbs to drop off City’s table.
Tanks
He will say, ‘Sod it, I will go to Bayern, Real, maybe Barcelona’ – and they would all take him.
I’m all for good governance and I understand restrictions, but to win the biggest trophies consistently you have to not only maintain a fine line with your budget, but speculate as well.
And that means FSG must park their tanks outside the Etihad and start firing pound notes at City’s home – or lose the biggest asset they have today.
WOLVES really is a great club and I would love to see the manager’s job go to an Englishman rather than another Jorge Mendes acolyte, following Bruno Lage’s dismissal. An Englishman who sees it as a four or five-year project and not just a stepping stone to a bigger job. It frustrates me that Wolves can be seen that way by both players and coaches, and I hope the powers that be at Molineux can change all that and make it a destination club once again.