Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha has claimed that Trent Alexander-Arnold leaving Liverpool is as big as the Reds being able to tie down Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk to new two-year deals.
As a result, he feels that Arne Slot needs to make three new signings in the summer, with Jamie Carragher already having given his view that Liverpool might need as many as SIX. With Federico Chiesa having been the only player signed in Slot’s first summer at the helm, this year, the expectation is that the Reds will be busier.
“Trent leaving is as big a deal as Salah and Van Dijk staying,” Onuoha said. You could argue that they need to try and replace him, but how do you replace a boy that came through the academy with the unique skillset that he has?
“Someone who has got the same drive to do what he did because he is a true, true Liverpudlian? And yet even just from a numbers standpoint, you would think they are going to need to try and replace him at some level.”
Conor Bradley could step up and play more games next season but he has missed 16 matches through injury so far in the current campaign. Another body would need to come in anyway to ensure that he wasn’t overloaded.
“When it comes to the rest of the team, they might also want to look at the forward line,” Onuoha, writing for BBC Sport, continued. “Are they happy? Is the manager happy with, for example, the situation with the number nines?
(Image: Catherine Ivill – AMA/Getty Images)
“I’m not 100 per cent sure. There has been so much variation in who and how they have played that position.
“Then there is the likes of Andy Robertson, whose contract is going to be coming to an end in summer 2026. With the sagas and dramas we saw of this campaign, will that be happening next year too?
“Liverpool will be looking at two or three players, one in each position to help give the squad good balance. It will not need a lot more because, as we have seen, what they have right now is capable of winning a Premier League title.
“They are dynamic. They are really good with how they want to play football. They are tough. They have got good size. Overall, the squad is a very good age, barring one or two players. So with what they have got at present, they have the design and are going to do well for the future too.
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“But any team that chooses not to get something fresh is likely going to get caught out somewhere further down the road. And sometimes, that is not as far as we believe it will be.
“Liverpool have real quality right now, but they know they cannot just let things get stale. All the teams behind them this season will have huge ambitions and want to give themselves an opportunity to win the Premier League title next year.”
Liverpool.com says: Getting a left-back, a number nine and another body at right-back would seem like the minimum requirement for sporting director Richard Hughes this summer. Ideally, another midfielder and a center-back would come in as well, though that would be a lot of work to get through in one window. In part, incomings will depend on outgoings too.
