Liverpool ‘could easily drop to fourth’ in the Premier League this season unless they sign new players, reckons Arsenal icon Paul Merson.
The Reds are going into a Premier League season as defending champions for the first time and got off to a winning start with a 4-3 victory over Leeds at Anfield on Saturday.
However, Jurgen Klopp has only made one senior signing this summer so far, bringing in Kostas Tsimikas from Olympiacos, who is only acting as an understudy for Andy Robertson at left-back.
Merson feels the champions’ squad is looking perilously weak and any sort of injury crisis could seriously cost them in the defence of their title and benefit the likes of Manchester City, who can boast a much deeper squad.
‘Liverpool could easily drop to fourth,’ Merson told Sky Sports. ‘You look at the goals Liverpool let in against Leeds: wow. I just think they turned up and thought they would wipe the floor with Leeds.
‘I think they need to buy someone. It would not surprise me if the finished fourth this season, and I thought that before this game.
‘It’s the same team, and they have a massive amount of players who have to play every week. Virgil van Dijk cannot get injured. The full-backs cannot get injured. They have not got anyone to replace the front three if they are injured.
‘That’s why I worry about Liverpool, there’s five or six players who must play week in, week out, otherwise the team is weakened immensely.’
Liverpool have continually been linked with Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara this summer, but that move looks no closer to being completed than any time over the last two months.
That transfer could still happen, but the Reds are not expected to complete any other deals and will almost certainly end the transfer window with much the same squad they have now.
