Conclusion
Liverpool’s 2022 summer activity was one that proved lacking, with only one player remaining for next season. Calvin Ramsay, Fabio Carvalho, Darwin Nunez and Arthur all arrived for a combined fee of £102.8 million, but none of them have had the desired impact.
The Reds need to learn from their mistakes and make sure they don’t repeat them this summer. They have the opportunity to turn the tide at Anfield and ensure those splattered eggs are a distant memory.
Alexis Mac Allister is the ideal start, but Liverpool need to make sure they sign two more midfielders and a defender to fill the holes in their squad.
Jurgen Klopp, Jorg Schmadtke and Mike Gordon have their work cut out for them and they need to make sure they don’t panic and make the wrong decisions.
Only time will tell if Liverpool can make the right decisions this summer and ensure they don’t fall even further behind their rivals.
Liverpool’s 2022 Summer Activity: A Look Back
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Overview
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Off the back of nearly making history after a quadruple chase, Liverpool’s 2022 summer activity is one that proved lacking as only one player will remain for next season. Calvin Ramsay, Fabio Carvalho, Darwin Nunez and Arthur all arrived for a combined fee of £102.8 million, but none of them have had the desired impact.
Four for the Price of £102.8m
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Let’s rewind to last summer. A significant change occurred as Michael Edwards left his role as sporting director and passed on his responsibilities to successor Julian Ward, who has now also departed. There were calls even then for a midfielder but word was the eggs were put in Jude Bellingham’s basket for the following year – it would later prove we had egg on our faces. Jurgen Klopp spoke firmly in support of his existing midfield options, questioning “Where is the need for a midfielder?”
Just 52 days later, the club acted quickly in the face of growing injury concerns in midfield by signing Arthur, an emergency stop-gap that could have been avoided. It was not as if Liverpool had failed to target a midfielder at the start of the summer, with Aurelien Tchouameni at the top of their wish list before Real Madrid pounced. In the end, the Reds committed a combined £99 million for Ramsay, Carvalho and Nunez, plus a £3.8 million fee for Arthur‘s loan spell – it equated to £292,308 per minute played for the Brazilian.
The Impact of Last Summer’s Transfers
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The Scottish right-back played 93 minutes after a season besieged by injury and will spend next season on loan at Preston, Carvalho totalled 638 minutes, is not in Klopp’s plans and will also go out on loan. Nunez injected chaos and spark into the team and has obvious raw potential, but the Uruguayan has yet to answer lingering questions over his suitability to Klopp, which saw him move to all but fifth choice in the forward line by season’s end.
Learning from Mistakes
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We all know Liverpool cannot afford to make mistakes in the transfer window, the self-sustaining ways under FSG do not allow for it. It means the club have to be savvy and shrewd, but as I wrote not too long after it was confirmed Liverpool had pulled out of the hunt for Bellingham, we look foolish when suddenly the fees start adding up, we pull out and the ship has sailed on alternative targets. Too much time has been wasted, the season gone was sacrificed for a player who is now at Real Madrid and it left it all to do this summer – and this time we are not building from a position of strength.
Alexis Mac Allister is the ideal start, but it is just that. A start. The Argentine will not solve all the issues on his own and ideally, he will be joined by two more midfielders and a defender. Klopp insisted “we will spend in the summer” and despite being eager for swift signings he knows “it’s always possible that things don’t go as quick as you want.” Of course, patience may be a virtue not shared among some supporters – especially with last summer in mind, we have seen what panicking can lead to.
Conclusion
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Mistakes were made last summer and they need to be rectified. All eyes are on Liverpool to do so. There are holes in the squad to address, a rebuild cannot wait another year and as Neil Jones reported for This Is Anfield