Arne Slot told Liverpool is badly missing former Jurgen Klopp favorite

Transfers, or a lack of them, can go a long way towards defining perceptions of a football club’s squad. It’s important not to ignore the quality already on a team’s roster though.

With Liverpool having not yet completed a signing this summer, with Martin Zubimendi snubbing the Reds’ interest, some people would have you believe the squad is a mess. Yet Transfermarkt rates it as the eighth most valuable in world football, albeit only fourth top in the Premier League. Things could be a lot worse for new head coach Arne Slot.

Former Red Jamie Carragher has pinpointed one weakness in the squad which the Dutchman inherited from Jurgen Klopp though, and it indirectly relates to one of the last manager’s most important players. It isn’t in defensive midfield, but it is in a position for which the club has attempted to recruit this summer.

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Carragher has an issue with an element of the team’s attack. “When you look at the Liverpool squad, they are a centre back short, a real top-holding midfielder short and they are missing an attacking player with blistering pace,” he began.

“When you look at Liverpool’s attack, [Darwin] Núñez has blistering pace, but [Mohamed] Salah is not as quick now, I don’t think [Luiz] Díaz has that pace, [Cody] Gakpo doesn’t, [Diogo] Jota is sharp, but we can do with someone in that front line with that pace – basically we want Sadio Mané back in his prime. They are the three positions we need filled and I’m not sure if Liverpool will fill all three, but I’d like to believe we’d get two out of those three.

“What you must remember is Liverpool last season were possibly in the top six to eight teams in European football,” Carragher continued. “Arne Slot is coming from Feyenoord, and it would have to be someone special at Feyenoord who could come straight into the Liverpool team so it’s not like the manager is bringing his own players in, and he hasn’t seen the whole squad.

“A lot of these younger players, he won’t know too much about them so he might think, I’m going to go and buy a midfielder for £30-£40m but then in 12 months he’ll have someone who could be a star. It doesn’t worry me one bit because I trust the structure and people there, and you’d have to be a special player to get into the Liverpool team.”

Mane was undoubtedly special, and Carragher has put his fondness for the player on record in the past. It sounds like he’d love the peak version of the former Southampton man back if it were possible. Could Anthony Gordon yet fill that void?

Jamie Carragher was speaking on behalf of Sky Sports as part of its start of season football campaign which brings together 92 passionate football fans from each team across the Premier League & EFL to share their hopes for the 2024/25 season. Hope Unites Us All.