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Liverpool signings: Analysing the Reds' recruitment policy

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Liverpool have been very busy in the transfer market so far this summer, but what do their signings tell us? Sam Drury examines their efforts...

"Where a player is younger and talented with the right level of ability, we will always go for the younger option because it’s a better long term investment for the club," Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre told the Liverpool Echo in January 2013.

Indeed, since Fenway Sports Group took over at Liverpool in 2010 the club have brought in 27 players aged 24 or under and just five players aged 27 or over, of which four have been free transfers.

Where a player is younger and talented with the right level of ability, we will always go for the younger option because it’s a better long term investment for the club.
Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre, January 2013 (Liverpool Echo)

Last summer Lazar Markovic, Alberto Moreno, Emre Can and Mario Balotelli came in, all of them fitting this model, while Javi Manquillo joined on a two-year loan with an option to buy. Another, Divock Origi, was also signed but remained on loan at Lille for the season.

Where Liverpool deviated from their plan was in their raiding of Southampton. Rickie Lambert arrived aged 32, albeit with a relatively low fee, while Adam Lallana, then 26, cost £25m and 25-year-old Dejan Lovren £20m.

Liverpool ended up with eight new signings split into two distinct groups – the young talents with bags of potential and the 'Premier League proven' players with that bit more experience or coming into their prime. It sounds like a good mix for a squad - but in a single summer did it suggest a slightly disjointed recruitment strategy?

It proved to be a difficult campaign for all of the new signings. Although a number of them showed flashes of quality, others failed to do even that as Rodgers’ side slipped from second in 2013/14 to sixth last season.

HULL, ENGLAND - APRIL 28:  Mario Balotelli of Liverpool shakes hands with Rickie Lambert as he is substituted during the Barclays Premier League
Image: Mario Balotelli and Rickie Lambert failed to live up to expectations at Anfield

Can impressed most of the new signings but even he had to wait until after Christmas to get his first significant run in the side. Although having looked good as part of a back three, being shifted to right-back proved a step too far for the midfielder.

Playing out of position also prevented Markovic from making the desired impact and despite a decent spell of form from early December through to February at wing-back, he was eventually phased out.

Lallana looked good in patches, scoring six and providing three assists, but having missed pre-season with damaged knee ligaments, injuries continued to crop up just as he appeared to be getting into his stride.

Moreno started brightly at left-back but fell away, his fellow Spaniard Manquillo looked solid defensively but made little impact going forward and was rarely seen in the second part of the season while Lovren lost his place in the side shortly before Christmas and ended the season with a total of three errors that led directly to goals.

If intensity is the word you associate with Rodgers' Liverpool, you would not use it to describe Mario Balotelli, Suarez's replacement.
Jamie Carragher

Additionally, both forwards seemed ill-suited to the way in which Liverpool wanted to play. Balotelli and Lambert managed just seven goals between them in all competitions, just three of them in the Premier League. 

"If intensity is the word you associate with Rodgers' Liverpool, you would not use it to describe Mario Balotelli," Jamie Carragher had told Sky Sports at the start of the season. 

While Daniel Sturridge’s injury problems undoubtedly had a huge impact, they also highlighted the lack of viable alternatives up front following the sale of Luis Suarez.

That Raheem Sterling - playing out of position - was the preferred option up front, with Lambert and Balotelli relegated to the bench, during Liverpool’s best period of the campaign spoke volumes.

Brazil's forward Roberto Firmino celebrates after scoring the team's second goal against Venezuela
Image: Can Roberto Firmino add spark up front next season?

That alone led to a situation where, coming into the summer, the pressure was on those responsible to show they had learnt from their mistakes in the transfer market.

For Liverpool fans, the signs thus far are encouraging - and Carragher is certainly pleased with Liverpool's dealings.

"I think Clyne's another good signing for the club to go along with the other business already done," the former Reds defender wrote on KICCA.

"The early deals were a couple of squad players (Ings and Bogdan) and also James Milner, who are all an improvement on what's currently in the squad.

"The last week has seen the signings of Clyne and Firmino, which will improve the team more than the squad and that’s what costs the big money.

"Credit to the club for getting these deals done early as every club wants to do that but few do. Another striker still needed though!"

Milner, Ings and Bogdan, snapped up after their contracts at their previous clubs expired, as well as the purchase of Clyne, represent the continuation on the theme of buying ‘Premier League proven’ players.

Roberto Firmino - the £21.3m signing from Hoffenheim - is the obvious exception to this rule. The Brazilian No 10 looks to be the signing to provide the star quality in the final third that Liverpool lacked last season.

Nathaniel Clyne, Liverpool FC signing (grab)
Image: Nathaniel Clyne will offer an attacking threat down the right

Another part of Firmino's appeal is his capacity to play in any of the front four positions - behind the striker, out wide or up front as a false nine. Which of the roles he fulfils will depend on the system adopted by the Anfield club.

While Bogdan seems set to act as back-up to Simon Mignolet, Clyne, Milner and Ings will be hoping to nail down first-team places.

Clyne’s acquisition hints at a return to a back four for the Reds, with the England right-back able to provide the impetus going forward that has been crucial in Rodgers’ sides as well as having the defensive skills necessary to help tighten things up at the back.

Milner is expected to line-up in his favoured central midfield position alongside Jordan Henderson and can provide, among other things, tactical intelligence and another threat breaking from deep. Of course, the Yorkshireman’s much-heralded versatility means he could also slot in elsewhere if required.

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New boy Danny Ings told Sky Sports that he's thrilled with his move to Anfield

Former Burnley man Ings faces a challenge to earn a regular first team place should Liverpool, as expected, bring in another striker. However, with Sturridge out until late September and Origi facing a period of adaptation, Ings will have the chance to show he is deserving of a place in the starting XI.

Meanwhile, young defender Joe Gomez is one for the future and could well go straight out on loan following his £3.5m move from Charlton.

Rodgers seems to want players who can slot seamlessly into his team ahead of the new season and of the outfield players, Firmino, Milner, Ings and Clyne all have the attributes - technically good, high energy, team players - to fit into the style of play the Ulsterman has used when Liverpool have been most successful under him.

This suggests a return to the high intensity pressing game that was used to such devastating effect in 2013/14 and these additions give the manager the option to play either the 4-3-3 or 4-4-2 diamond systems employed that year.

Potential full-strength Liverpool side 2015/16
Image: Brendan Rodgers could revert to the 4-4-2 diamond next season

"This year we've enough potential and players we can develop and improve but I think it is definitely starters we need and we have to be really forceful to get it," Rodgers said at the end of April.

Sky Sports pundit and former club captain Phil Thompson agreed, remarking as he reviewed last summer's signings at the end of the season: "Most of these players are going to be at the football club for a few years yet, because they've been bought under the 'Moneyball' strategy, but it's difficult to always make that work in this country.

"So, now, Liverpool’s squad is absolutely crying out for more experience - players in their late 20s with Premier League or Champions League experience - people of that ilk will help the club go forward again.

"That might mean paying higher salaries rather than trying to invest in young gems, but that’s the game these days."

With six signings completed by the beginning of July, neither can have any complaints. Liverpool have been decisive and efficient in the transfer market so far this summer and lessons certainly appear to have been learnt off the pitch.

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Roberto Firmino took to the courts to showcase his ability with this trick shot

The club have gone out and got their first choices, all with minimal fuss, and that the players brought in so far appear to suit the side’s desired style of play as well as being of the required quality to improve the starting XI surely bodes well.

Of course, a new striker is still on the wish-list and, if last season is anything to go by, the success of that individual could go a long way to determining whether Liverpool’s season, and in turn this summer’s business, is a success.

Whoever that individual turns out to be, Liverpool fans will be hoping that he represents part of a well-constructed plan that adds to, rather than detracts from, their promising early business.

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