Liverpool WILL make signings as Reds face five days that will define their future
Liverpool WILL make signings as Reds face five days that will define their future
David Maddock says the club needs Champions League football and will therefore stop at nothing in the transfer market to build a squad capable of securing a top-four finish.
Shaping up: Brendan Rodgers has a busy few days ahead of him
It does rather seem like we're always saying this about Liverpool, but the next five days could define the future of the club.
If that seems a dramatic statement, then it merely acknowledges just how important Champions League football is to a club whose history, reputation and - more importantly - worldwide fan base, is built on European exploits.
Put simply, Liverpool need to finish in the top four this season, they need to reestablish themselves among the Premier League elite, because many more years like the last four, when they have been condemned to the footballing wilderness, and they may never get back there.
It is a depressing thought, for such a big club, not just for their own fans, but for true football fans everywhere, because the English game needs a strong Liverpool.
But let's not get too depressing. The good news is, if they can get some big decisions right over the next five days, then Brendan Rodgers is building the sort of structure - and momentum - at Anfield that could take them back where they feel they belong.
They need to make signings. And they WILL make signings, at least two of them. With the injury to Kolo Toure, they require a centre half urgently (and actually they probably need two). Feeling the heat: Liverpool could turn to Kyriakos Papadopoulos to solve their defensive problems Rodgers would like to sign Kyriakos Papadopoulos from Schalke, but the fee is prohibitively high for a player who has been sidelined through injury for much of the past 10 months. If he could get the Greek stopper on loan, he could solve his defensive problems.
Alternatively, and probably more likely, is his interest in Mamadou Sakho, which is likely to come to fruition before the deadline.
Whether the France international is the answer remains to be seen, but if Liverpool are to seriously challenge for the top four, then they need a confident, solid centre half to back up their impressive work going forward.
They will also need two more things to happen before the transfer window slams shut next week. One - and most important of all - is to resist the inevitable late bid for Luis Suarez from Real Madrid.
It will happen. Probably this weekend. He will want to go. But it is too late, far too late, to get a replacement of that quality, so Liverpool will need to be strong, to resist the pressure, and then somehow gently get Suarez's head right to play a role for the club over the coming months. Another target: Mamadou Sakho is on Liverpool's radar
It will not be easy, but that is what managers are paid huge salaries for these days, to manage. To manage massive egos and millionaire superstars. To get them playing even when they don't want to play.
And at least in Brendan Rodgers they have a manager with a real talent for that. He is still young, is still learning, but he seems capable of getting players to...well, err. Play.
That is where things are most encouraging, because in their first two league games the Reds have looked like a real team, with real talent. Add a motivated Suarez into the mix and a strong centre half and they can challenge for the top four.
Add a top class attacking player to that... and they will definitely challenge for the top four. So Rodgers has five days to persuade Suarez to give it one more year, find a centre half, and then finish all that off with the capture of a world class attacker...even if there are not many of those around.
No pressure there then, Brendan!
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