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There is a line in Liverpool’s famous club anthem ‘You’ll Never Walk Alone’ which says “At the end of a storm, there’s a Golden Sky” and no line is more apt to describe Liverpool in the last decade.
Liverpool went through a period of turmoil since the end of the 2008-09 season and Jurgen Klopp is Liverpool’s fifth manager during this period.
Klopp is slowly and steadily bringing one of Europe’s biggest clubs back to where it belongs - at the pinnacle of European football. Millions of Liverpool fans are gearing up for the club’s first Champions League final in 11 years and there is no lack of optimism.
The manager’s first message to the Liverpool fans when he took over was to change from doubters to believers and he has done everything he can to help the fans make that transition. However, his job is not done yet. There is so much potential in this Liverpool squad to achieve so much more, but the club must ensure that they fulfil the following five things in the summer to take Liverpool to the next level and maybe even win the elusive Premier League title.
#1 New contracts for Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah
Having already lost Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona, it is crucial that Liverpool keep their front three intact for as long as possible and that’s going to difficult if they carry their form into the upcoming seasons.
One of the biggest factors behind Liverpool’s incredible season is the form of their front three and that’s no secret. Together, the trio has amassed 90 goals and 39 assists in all competitions this season!
Even though Liverpool had players like Michael Owen, Robbie Fowler, Fernando Torres and Luis Suarez during the Premier League era, they never had a more dangerous front three.
Liverpool have already tied down Roberto Firmino to a new contract which retains him till 2023 and also makes him the club’s highest-paid player with a weekly wage of £180,000.
It is now important that Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah are also offered new contracts before the start of the 2018/19 season. Their new contracts, when signed, should and will be on par with what Firmino earns after signing his new contract.
If Liverpool fail to do so, then there are easily at least half a dozen clubs in Europe who can offer these players more money and maybe even better prospects of winning trophies.
#2 Resolve the Zeljko Buvac situation
One major issue that the club has to resolve in the summer is the future of Jurgen Klopp’s assistant manager Zeljko Buvac.
Klopp has previously labelled Buvac as the ‘brain’ of his operation and the duo have worked together for over 17 years at Mainz, Borussia Dortmund and Liverpool. However, the club announced that the Serb will be absent from his duties until the end of the season due to personal reasons.
It was initially rumored that Buvac was in contention to replace Arsene Wenger but that has not happened. There are also rumours that Buvac and Klopp have had a major fallout and that would be a big blow for Liverpool considering how important Buvac is to Klopp.
“I’ve made a lot of good decisions in my career as manager, but the best one was appointing Buvac as coach – he’s the best coach I’ve ever known. He’s the one I’ve learned the most from. We’re like an old married couple, and that’s sensational.” Klopp has previously said.
If Buvac will not return to Liverpool, then the club may need to find a new #2 to Klopp and in such a scenario, they may already have a replacement in Pepijn Lijnders.
Lijnders previously worked as a first-team development coach at Liverpool between 2014 and 2018 before taking over as the manager of Dutch club NEC in January 2018. However, he was sacked as manager after the club failed to gain promotion to the Eredivisie in the promotion play-offs.
Klopp said he was gutted when Lijnders left the club
"Firstly, I am gutted to be losing such a valuable member of our coaching team and such a brilliant person from our group.”
Maybe, Lijnders can be the man to replace Buvac as Klopp’s #2.
#3 Improve squad depth
Since Klopp took over as manager, Liverpool have signed 12 players on a permanent deal (including Alex Manninger who retired after a season) and has sold or released as many as 22 players.
This has helped Klopp create a strong first XI but Liverpool lack the squad depth in quality to compete on four fronts.
Despite possessing Jordan Henderson, James Milner, Emre Can, Adam Lallana, Gini Wijnaldum and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain as midfield options, Liverpool were left with only three fit senior midfielders towards the end of the season which made rotation impossible with fixtures piling up.
Thankfully for Liverpool, they didn’t have to deal with injuries to any of their front three because the options to replace any of them include Danny Ings, Dominic Solanke and Ben Woodburn.
Naby Keita will arrive from RB Leipzig in the summer after Liverpool wrapped up a deal to sign the player a year ago but the impending departure of Emre Can means Klopp could be forced to sign another midfielder in the summer.
The goalkeeping and defence departments may not need a new signing in the summer as there are at least two players for each position at the moment although an upgrade over Loris Karius and Dejan Lovren would benefit the team massively.
It is in attack that Liverpool need to invest massively but this is a tricky scenario. Liverpool need at least one player who can match the level of the current front three or better it (if that’s possible) and can maybe play in different positions. Even if they find one such player, the problem Klopp will have is to give enough game time to all four players.
The Reds are linked with a move for Lyon’s Nabil Fekir who predominantly plays as an attacking midfielder but can also play up front or as a right-winger. However, Fekir doesn’t possess the pace of Salah or Mane.
Another forward who has been linked with Liverpool is Ousmane Dembele. Klopp is a known admirer of the young French international and although the rumoured move is a loan, it will help Liverpool in more than one way.
Dembele is capable of playing on either wing which means Klopp can rest any of his front three including Firmino by playing Mo Salah up front. In addition, acquiring Dembele for a season means Liverpool can redirect a significant transfer fee to other areas of the pitch.
It will be very interesting to see how Klopp’s summer transfer plans unfold and we may only have to wait until the end of the Champions League final to see them unravel.
#4 Resolve the future of fringe players
As important as it is for Liverpool to add more depth to the squad, they also need to make a call on the future of many fringe players.
Liverpool sent 14 players out on loan during the 2017/18 season of which Daniel Sturridge, Lazar Markovic, Jon Flanagan, Jordan Williams, Pedro Chirivella, Allan and Connor Randall likely to head out the exit door.
Others like Sheyi Ojo, Ryan Kent and Ovie Ejaria didn’t impress particularly while they were on loan but are highly rated youngsters. Considering the players already at Liverpool and the impending summer arrivals, these players may need another loan spell or move elsewhere to find their feet.
Then there is Taiwo Awoniyi who had an excellent season on loan in Belgium but is still in need of more top-tier experience.
Divock Origi, Harry Wilson and Marko Grujic are the only three loanees who may have a role to play with the first team next season.
Origi left the club on loan to boost his World Cup chances but Wolfsburg’s disastrous season rubbed off on him and he has been left out of the Belgium squad. However, he has proved to be an effective squad player before, racking up 10 and 11 goals in his two season with the club.
Origi’s future also depends on what Klopp decides to do with Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke in the summer. Ings, who turns 26 ahead of the next season, may need a move elsewhere to reboot his career while Solanke, who is highly rated by Klopp, may need regular playing time to refine his raw talent.
Harry Wilson is one player who has surprisingly been given very little game time by Klopp despite impression at the U-23 level. Wilson spent the second half of the season on loan at Hull City, scoring 7 goals and assisting 3 more in 13 league games. It is likely that Wilson will get another loan spell so that he can get more game time which he may not get if he stays at Liverpool.
The situation is quite similar for Marko Grujic who spent the second half of the season on loan at promoted Cardiff City.
Grujic was Klopp’s first signing as Liverpool manager and a player Klopp believes has a future at Liverpool. With Cardiff now in the Premier League, another loan spell there might be a great opportunity for the Serb to get regular Premier League action.
There also decisions to be made on the future of some of the players currently at Liverpool like Simon Mignolet for instance. The Belgian has been demoted to the bench in 2018 and there will be clubs who are keen to sign the Belgian as their #1.
Other like Danny Ward, Adam Bogdan, Ben Woodburn are also players who either need to be sold or loaned out in the summer.
#5 Start with another excellent preseason
Since Klopp took over, there have been two preseasons under him and Liverpool have performed well in both of them. The preseason is crucial to building up the fitness level of the players for a long and gruelling season but excellent results in the friendlies can help boost the morale of the squad.
Liverpool’s first preseason under Klopp was ahead of the 16/17 season and the Reds won 6/9 games which included a 4-0 annihilation of Barcelona!
The second pre-season ahead of the 17/18 season saw the Reds win 6/8 games while remaining unbeaten. The most notable result among those games was a 3-0 win over Bayern Munich at the Allianz Arena.
During both preseasons, Liverpool have played some really strong oppositions and came out on top. They also played some teams that are nowhere near their quality but such games help the manager to analyze how some of his squad players are responding.
The 18/19 pre-season should be no different and thankfully for Klopp; Loris Karius, Danny Ward, Nathaniel Clyne, Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez, Ragnar Klavan, Alberto Moreno, Andy Robertson, Joel Matip, Gini Wijnaldum, James Milner, Naby Keita, Adam Lallana, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Danny Ings and Dominic Solanke will not be playing at the World Cup. This means he has most of his first team available from the first day of pre-season.
The Reds are due to play Manchester United, Manchester City, Borussia Dortmund and Napoli in pre-season and these are teams that will test Liverpool even in pre-season.
If Liverpool can finish their pre-season with some excellent results against such strong opposition, then they will go into the new season with incredible confidence.
