Morgan Rogers with a Liverpool shirt Photoshopped on him and, inset, the star they bought, Bradley Barcola
Liverpool could have signed Morgan Rogers but instead bought Bradley Barcola
Serious questions have been levelled at Liverpool’s transfer policy over the last couple of seasons, with the Reds accused of having ‘more misses than hits in recent times’ and with one observer particularly pained by this summer’s decision to sign Bradley Barcola over Morgan Rogers.
The Merseyside giants have made many astute signings down the years with Jurgen Klopp, in particular, benefiting from some incredibly shrewd signings with their famed front three of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino, all of whom were bought for a collective £101.4m (€120m, $134m), arguably the best examples.
These days, any top-class star is going to cost that much alone, with the Premier League guiltier than most of inflating the market and seeing a raft of players move for fees in excess of £100m.
Liverpool, for their own part, have smashed that figure three times alone in the last few transfer windows, with Florian Wirtz (£116m from Bayer Leverkusen), Alexander Isak (£125m from Newcastle) and Barcola (£123m from PSG) costing the Reds an eye-watering £364m (€430m, $481m) combined.
Despite that investment, there is an argument to say none of the trio has really delivered and, while it’s early days in Barcola’s Anfield career, the player himself admits he is struggling to adapt to the rigours of the Premier League.
Now, respected journalist David Lynch, who specialises in all things Liverpool FC, believes the club’s transfer policy needs a serious shake-up and has suggested they have got a lot more wrong than right in recent times.
“They haven’t been getting as many hits recently as they used to,” Lynch began on Anfield Index’s YouTube channel.
And while he is refusing to pin the blame entirely on (now departed former sporting director) Richard Hughes, he says “it’s a team that works in recruitment altogether, really” but that (Hughes’ successor) Julian Ward should think twice before “simply following many of the processes already established at the club”.
With co-presenter Dave Davis admitting that Liverpool’s current crop are a “too nice team to play against” compared to a nastier, more energetic XI that Klopp enjoyed, Lynch went on to suggest why the players they have recruited have simply been all wrong…
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Liverpool transfer policy has ‘failed’ in recent times
Lynch explained that Liverpool’s current XI lacks the “physicality, desire and aggression” in the profiles of previous Liverpool targets, saying the club has “moved towards signing players who are nice to play against”, suggesting that the club’s current squad as a whole are no longer “a nightmare to play against like it used to be”.
And while Lynch was at pains to suggest there is no lack of effort from the players, acknowledging an improvement on the aggression front in that first half-hour versus Man City on Sunday, his “wider concern is whether the overall squad has enough of the qualities that made previous Liverpool teams so uncomfortable to face”.
He explained: “The recruitment is about more than technical ability, reputation or potential”, having pointed to the signings of Wirtz and Barcola in particular, before suggesting the Reds need to hold conversations about whether Liverpool are “giving enough weight to competitive edge, physicality and the motivation of players who still have something to prove”.
While stopping short of making individual comparisons, the point was raised at how Liverpool did look at established Premier League star Morgan Rogers ahead of this summer, but ultimately shied away from a deal to pursue Barcola instead.
Given they both cost similar fees, Lynch says Liverpool need to have “a real think about what they are doing internally and whether they need to completely shift the recruitment model.”
In light of their current shortcomings, though, Lynch accepts Liverpool are no longer in a position to simply throw a load more money at the situation and the club will need to use and make better use of the resources available to them.
However, he has certainly argued they should stop and consider how their recent signings have fared and accepted that they have had more misses than hits in recent times.
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