Are Liverpool allowing this summer to pass them by?

Liverpool have been here before. Ahead of the 2014/15 season, the Reds had given themselves something of a platform to build upon, qualifying for the Champions League for the first time in a number of years. Brendan Rodgers had taken the Anfield side to within two points of the Premier League title the season before, hinting at a return to the glory days for the club. Then it all fell apart.

Rodgers lasted only another year at Liverpool, losing his job in October 2015 following a severe regression in the team’s fortunes. The Reds’ problems could be traced all the way back to the summer of 2014, when Rodgers and the club’s infamous transfer committee had spent so poorly in the transfer window.

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As a Champions League club, they had the clout to lure some of the very best. Instead, they sold their best player in Luis Suarez and used the £65 million paid by Barcelona for the striker to spend £117m on several unproven, untested talents.

Of the nine signings made that summer, only Adam Lallana and Emre Can still hold down a starting place. Strikers Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli were moved on for losses, Dejan Lovren and Alberto Moreno are almost certain to be replaced over the next few weeks and there remain major question marks over £20m signing Lazar Markovic.

Such failure to make the most of their situation still haunts Liverpool, with Jurgen Klopp only just managing to return the club to the Champions League plinth three years later. They find themselves at a similar juncture. Get this summer right and the Reds will challenge for honours next season, even standing a chance of reaching the summit of the English game. Get it wrong, however, and they will slide back down the mountain, just as they did under Rodgers.

That’s why the lack of speculation concerning truly top tier players heading to Anfield is somewhat concerning. While rivals like Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United are the talk of the summer gossip column, Liverpool have been left as peripheral figures in the transfer market pantomime.

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Of course, Klopp might prefer it that way. It could be the case that the Reds are doing their business out of sight, under the radar (although their very public pursuit of Southampton’s Virgil Van Dijk suggests that is probably not the case). More concerning for all associated with the club would be if the Reds are simply lacking direction in this window.

The signing of Egyptian winger Mohamed Salah from Roma for around £35 million will likely be sealed in the coming days, giving Liverpool additional quality in the final third. But given that Klopp’s side were already most accomplished when attacking, was Salah really a priority? Will that £35 million prove to be money well spent?

Defensive recruitments are desperately needed and yet Liverpool have made few strides in that regard. Van Dijk was identified as Klopp’s number one target this summer, but having botched the process of getting the Dutchman to Anfield so badly it seems unlikely that the former Celtic centre back will finish the summer as a Red.

Elsewhere, Scottish left back Andy Robertson has been linked with a switch to Merseyside, but no solid offer has yet been lodged with Hull City for the player. Whether they were truly interested or not, the Reds also missed out on Harry Maguire, who completed a move to Leicester City last week for £17m.

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Pep Guardiola has already been active in this window, while Jose Mourinho is also set to add significantly to his Manchester United squad. Liverpool have already been left in the wake of their rivals. There’s still plenty time for that to change, but one wonders what their strategy is, because there appears not to be one at present.

Liverpool’s mistake in the summer of 2014 was to make too many signings in an effort to make the next step, with none of those signings possessing the quality to improve them in any meaningful way. This summer, however, the worry is that they’re not doing enough.They simply can’t allow this transfer window to pass them by, otherwise they risk suffering just as Rodgers did, albeit for different reasons.