Liverpool's Premier League title defence: Could lack of transfers stop Jurgen Klopp's side from dominating the league
Liverpool go into the new season as defending dominant champions, victors with seven games to spare, finishing with an 18-point margin of victory despite several games of hungover football down the stretch, but could their lack of spending catch up with them in the new season?
Man City are favourites heading into the 2020/21 campaign and, aside from their usual massive squad full of strength in depth, and the funds to add more, a big reason for that is the lack of new signings at Anfield. The more City spend, and the less Liverpool buy, the longer their odds get of retaining the title.
It's a fascinating sidebar to the main preview stories coming up ahead of the big kick-off that a team that has been champions of England, Europe and the world recently looks like one that can't afford to sign any new big-name players.
The Reds have been dominant over two seasons where they've amassed an incredible 196 points, just two less than City managed across two seasons previous, but whereas Pep Guardiola continued to splash the cash, Liverpool have gone into their spending shell.
Of course, a big reason is that the squad is performing so well, so why change it? Jurgen Klopp is also a big advocate of using a small tightly-knit squad but this was the summer to add a few new faces.
If you're not going forwards, you're going backwards, especially in this league with Chelsea spending bundles, City always spending and Man Utd looking like they're keen to spend as well.
Klopp's money worries - why Liverpool haven't spent
This summer is like no other, and Liverpool owners FSG are nothing if not prudent with their investments. In any other year you'd expect we'd already have seen Timo Werner and Thiago Alcantara parading around Anfield as the shiny new signings for the champions.
The fact Klopp wanted both but has so far got neither is telling - and could perhaps be the deciding factor in the next title race. Man City, Man Utd and Chelsea in particular are all be stronger, while Liverpool will go again with the same squad they've had for a couple of seasons.
Klopp has admitted that the club have to think twice about every financial deal - it's a complication Guardiola, Frank Lampard and even Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, to an extent, don't have as they know funds are always available. Roman Abramovich has stumped up over £200m this summer after all.
"Now, in corona times, you have to think five times before making a transfer because nobody knows what will happen after corona," Klopp told Servus TV.
"We always have to pay attention to the financial aspect because we don't know exactly how much money we will have available. Others seem to deal with it a little more positively when you look at Chelsea.
"There are a lot of interesting players out there but if someone is interesting for us, I can't say right now. But I am very happy with my team right now. If something transfer related will happen, we have to see."
Liverpool's recent transfer record
What looks to be the case is, while Liverpool dipped into the big leagues in terms of transfers to build their all-conquering squad, they can't sustain that position under current circumstances and run with the real rich kids about town - so they are now having to simply prop up their superb starting XI.
Liverpool's recent transfer activity is fascinating, setting out their clear plan of going big at the right time to build their all-powerful side, then simply putting the cheque book away.
2017/18 - The rebuild
- Out: Philippe Coutinho £130m
- In: Mohamed Salah £37m | Alex Oxlade Chamberlain £34m | Andrew Robertson £8m | Virgil van Dijk £76m
The transfer plan was executed to perfection, well, almost perfection as Virgil van Dijk came in during the January window and made a huge and instant impact.
Selling Coutinho and having that money effectively cover the purchases of Salah, Van Dijk, Oxlade-Chamberlain and Robertson was a masterstroke.
Crucially, while the outlays were hefty, the Coutinho cash, although it doesn't all arrive at once in the back of a truck, effectively makes it a lot more affordable for a club that isn't propped up by one hugely wealthy owner.
Summer 2018 transfer window - The missing pieces
- In: Alisson Becker £56m | Naby Keita £54m | Fabinho £40m | Xherdan Shaqiri £13m
Alisson coming in from Roma was the clincher for many and just took Liverpool to that next level - no great team works without a top goalkeeper and that's more evident in the trophies Liverpool didn't win. Loris Karius cost them the 2018 Champions League final, while current back-up Adrian saw them eliminated from last season's tournament against Atletico Madrid.
You could argue neither of those things happen with Alisson in goal.
Fabinho also proved a great acquisition, and such was the strength of this team that both he and Keita have been given huge amounts of time to settle into life in the Premier League. Many believe the best is yet to come from Keita this season.
Last three windows....
- In: Takumi Minamino £7.65m | Sepp van den Bergh £1.71m
- Out: Dominic Solanke £20m | Danny Ings £20m
The Solanke deal looks a great one for Liverpool now, the Ings one looks a great deal for Southampton, but that £40m combined hasn't been pumped back into the transfer market.
Minamino actually won two league titles last season in England and Austria, but hasn't as yet suggested he could provide adequate back-up for any of the front three.
Currently, Liverpool have only bought Kostas Tsimikas for around £11m as a back-up left back to Andy Robertson - and that's after refusing to pay more for Norwich's Jamal Lewis.
Can Liverpool keep getting away with it?
Liverpool have never been a more attractive proposition for a prospective new signing than they are right now, and if you had one concern about them for the future then it is that they're missing out on bolstering their side for years to come by not signing the likes of Werner in particular.
With Klopp's German connections, playmaker Kai Havertz, central defender Dayot Upamecano, even Jadon Sancho (possibly) would all be keen to move to Anfield and even just that one major signing each summer also sends out the message to opposing teams that the champions intend to stay on top.
PREMIER LEAGUE FIXTURES
All the talk of Liverpool dominating the next few years is all a bit premature and will fade away pretty quickly if they get a couple of injuries to Salah or Van Dijk given that their back-ups represent such a huge drop-off in quality.
And injuries and fatigue will come very much into focus this season given the short turnaround and the tightly-packed season to come. Meaning going again with a small squad is a big risk.
The Reds should, of course, have more than enough quality to get up towards the 90-point mark again and if injuries don't hit they could well win the league again, but we're talking such fine margins and such relentless achievement that they've managed the last two seasons that even a minor drop-off could prove costly.
Liverpool have played the transfer market perfectly to get to where they are today, but they're walking a tightrope and their failure to keep on pushing forward could always cost them their chance to stay on top in the long run.
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