Jamie Carragher has given his thoughts on the summer transfer window for Liverpool, which came with plenty of positives and negatives.
Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher
Sky Sports pundit and former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher(Image: James Gill - Danehouse/Getty Images)
Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has given his verdict on the team's summer transfer business, believing it was a positive window, but there remains some imbalance in the team.
It follows a chaotic time on the market, where the Reds managed to welcome four new faces, but saw plenty of rejection on their way to the market closing.
Jeremy Jacquet made his move to Anfield, following an agreed deal with Rennes earlier in the year, as he became arrival number one for a side that was looking to be busy. Victor Munoz followed from Osasuna, adding some pace and versatility to the frontline, before Ronald Araujo made a loan switch from Barcelona for the season to bolster the backline.
A summer-long pursuit of Bradley Barcola finally came to an end, with the French winger joining from Paris Saint-Germain, while goalkeeper Lucca Brughmans joined on a deal from Genk before returning to the Belgian side on loan for the rest of the season.
With that wrapping up the majority of the business, along with some exits for the likes of Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliot, and Stefan Bajcetic, the assessments of the transfer window have come rolling in.
Carragher is among those to have given his thoughts, as he told Sky Sports: "I think it’s been okay, really. The main thing was to improve in the wide areas, and they’ve brought two wingers in. I’m hoping in the next few hours there might be another, but they’ve brought in Bradley Barcola and Victor Munoz as well.
"They made a great start at the weekend, too. The real signing is Barcola, and you’re talking about replacing Mo Salah as a name, if you like, but it’s on the opposite flank. The big disappointment is that we’ve known for a long time that Mo Salah was leaving the club, and we haven’t got a real out-and-out right-sided attacker.
Bradley Barcola, the new signing of Liverpool, at AXA Training Center on August 30, 2026, in Kirkby, England.
Bradley Barcola, the new signing of Liverpool, at AXA Training Center on August 30, 2026, in Kirkby, England.(Image: Getty Images)
"All the wide players we have right now are right-footed. We haven’t got anybody with a left foot on that right side who can come inside onto their left foot like Mo Salah did, with devastating effect.
"So I’m disappointed because we’ve got a lot of players who play in the same position, and I’m not quite sure what we’re going to do on that right wing right now. It doesn’t look like a balanced squad, basically. That’s what I’m saying. We’re short in the full-back areas and, for me, probably a midfield player as well."
Carragher was then questioned as to why this imbalance exists, to which he responded: "Well, I’m the wrong guy to ask. I know the people behind the scenes at all clubs are working very hard to get deals done.
"When you look at the calibre of a player as an individual, players like Barcola, Wirtz and Isak — £100 million each — you can’t say in isolation that these aren’t quality players. At the time when those deals went over the line, everyone would have been pleased with them.
"But I said this last summer, and it’s probably the same again with Barcola: Liverpool in the last two summers, it’s almost been like Liverpool were Real Madrid, and they’re just going for the best player on the market for the most money.
"That gets everybody really excited, but there’s no real thought to how it’s all going to knit together as a team. Real Madrid always make it work, that’s the nature of that football club, but I go back a long time at Liverpool, and Liverpool have always been about the team. They’ve been that type of team. They use the crowd as a togetherness; it’s not just about a star player.
"It feels like we’ve gone down that road. Even under Jurgen Klopp, we’d buy players who maybe weren’t superstars, but there was a plan. There was an idea about how it was all going to knit together, and we were going to be this great team. If I’m being honest, I want to go back to that. It’s not that I don’t want to spend money or get the best players you possibly can, but I want to feel like there’s a plan for how it’s all going to work.
"I sit there scratching my head and thinking, we’ve got four left wingers and we haven’t got one right winger. Something like that just doesn’t feel right to me. You look at the full-back areas as well. We haven’t really got an out-and-out right-back now because Conor Bradley has got injured. A club the size of Liverpool should have better backup or should go into the market right now.
"I love Conor Bradley to bits, but if he’s got a long-term injury, you shouldn’t be waiting for Conor Bradley to come back. Unfortunately, Liverpool are, as I said, a huge football club and we demand the best. You have to go and buy someone to fill that position and give Liverpool a real opportunity — more importantly, give the manager that opportunity.
"The new manager has come in right now, and Liverpool won the league just over a year ago. We’ve spent an awful lot of money since then, and I don’t think anybody inside Liverpool supporters really believes we can win the league this season, or that the manager has the tools to go and win the league this season. That just doesn’t feel right.”
It highlights both the successes and failures that Liverpool has had in the market, as Iraola is left to deal with what he has left within the side to get some positive results.