Liverpool has work left to do in the summer transfer market but while Chelsea and Manchester United need goals, Jürgen Klopp has that part already tied down.
Jürgen Klopp might have sealed a deal for Japan captain Wataru Endo last week, with the former Stuttgart player making his Liverpool debut against Bournemouth, but more needs to be done for his summer transfer work to be complete.
The situation could clearly be a lot worse, however. Already, Chelsea appears to be under scrutiny after a defeat to West Ham United, and Manchester United lost at Spurs. Liverpool can only focus on itself, but that does put things into perspective.
Chelsea, in particular, is an interesting case, given the desire for signings and a borderline craving for recklessness in some quarters. The Stamford Bridge side, though, is no model to follow.
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Mauricio Pochettino’s side has signed Nicolas Jackson for $40m (£32m/€37m) this summer, but the 22-year-old remains raw and unproven. Romelu Lukaku remains on the books but does not appear to have a future at the club, and Chelsea’s attacking firepower appears to be limited.
Amid a $1bn-plus spend in less than three transfer windows under Todd Boehly, that seems a remarkable situation for a top club to find itself in. The attack is not the only underwhelming part of the Chelsea team, but is the most glaring in terms of a need for improving.
By contrast, Mohamed Salah, Diogo Jota and Luis Díaz was the Liverpool forward line against Bournemouth, with Cody Gakpo — for now — required in midfield and Darwin Núñez coming off the bench in the second half.
Those five players — with Sadio Mané and Roberto Firmino exiting — are an elite forward line-up. Given Salah was already in the building, adding the others around him since 2020 has cost a relatively modest $228m (£179m/€209m) spread over a number of seasons.
Even with add-ons, Díaz and Gakpo cost Liverpool only a similar amount to what Chelsea splashed out for Mykhailo Mudryk alone from Shakhtar Donetsk. The 22-year-old is a talented forward but has lots of work to do to even begin to justify that outlay.
There are other areas of the pitch where Liverpool needs to play catch-up. The Reds missed out on signing Moisés Caicedo and Roméo Lavia, who chose to move to West London instead of Anfield. Klopp’s defense needs strengthening as well.
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