They’ve most certainly been the busiest Premier League club this summer in terms of transfers and this fact alone has got our resident Reds fans rather excited of late.
Clearly intent on bringing in players for the here and now, not to mention the future, Liverpool have managed to sign James Milner, Danny Ings, Adam Bogdan, Joe Gomez, Roberto Firmino, Nathaniel Clyne and Bobby Adekanye so far this summer and don’t rule out any more new arrivals.
While these signings look sensible on paper, one wise Reds supporting punter claims that Brendan Rodgers will have a job on his hands to ensure they all gel correctly because after all, after mass upheaval last summer, the likes of Lazar Markovic, Adam Lallana and Mario Balotelli did everything but hit the ground running.
The mood around Anfield has improved this summer, simply born out of the fact Rodgers is strengthening in the correct areas but the Northern Irishman knows that he must get results on the pitch and fast with the tail end of last season representing nothing short of a disaster.
There still remains a few things to sort out with Raheem Sterling expected to join Manchester City at some point, not to mention the fact that the Reds may go in for an additional striker to Ings to cover for the simply unreliable Daniel Sturridge whose career has been blighted by injuries.
All of this has led our resident Liverpool fans towards devising a dream starting eleven for next season. Do you agree with their selections?
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Click on the image below to reveal the dream starting XI for Liverpool under Brendan Rodgers next season.
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Simon Mignolet
He’s certainly not a dream choice between the sticks in any regard but with Liverpool having already signed Adam Bogdan to replace Brad Jones, we aren’t expecting the Reds to be installing a new number one any time soon.
Mignolet suffered a horrendous first half to the 2014/15 campaign and was even dropped indefinitely to make way for Jones after a series of high profile errors but upon being reinstalled into the team, he started showing some of the form that ultimately earned him his big Anfield move again.
Next season will be a huge one for Mignolet and will ultimately prove whether he has the abilities to stay at Anfield long-term or whether he will be disposed of as not good enough next summer.
Nathaniel Clyne
Liverpool’s latest big name arrival is yet again, another player from Southampton *queue the jokes*.
However this time, you really feel as if Liverpool really needed the England international who will now fill a position which has proved a problem area for the Reds in recent times.
Jon Flanagan’s injury troubles haven’t improved, Javi Manquillo has been disappointing and may even have his loan spell cut short, Glen Johnson has now been released and Emre Can struggled in the role against better opposition.
So to have an established, first choice option in Clyne joining is good news for Liverpool who can expect raiding runs up the right flank, not to mention assured defensive displays in equal measure from the England man.
Martin Skrtel
Liverpool’s best centre back will be remaining at Anfield after signing a new deal earlier this summer and that’s great news for the Reds with Skrtel representing their most consistent defensive performer.
Tough and always up for a battle, notably with Chelsea’s Diego Costa, Skrtel is a natural born leader and will marshal others around him.
With Kolo Toure and Dejan Lovren prone to an error or three, there was no threatening Skrtel’s place in this dream starting eleven.
Mamadou Sakho
We mentioned how Kolo Toure and Dejan Lovren are error prone on our previous slide and the same can be said about this man Mamadou Sakho but the consensus is that he is still far more promising than the aforementioned pair.
Looking like a real competitor on his day, his day hasn’t come regularly enough for Reds fans to have total faith in him but nevertheless, he does have good performances in him.
After all, the French international will need to establish himself as a regular started under Rodgers next season, simply because the European Championships will be occurring in his native France next summer so he needs to start impressing and fast, amid competition from Laurent Koscielny, Raphael Varane, Eliaquim Mangala and Kurt Zouma among others.
So no more walking out on the eve of Merseyside derby fixtures against Everton aye Mamadou!
Alberto Moreno
Out of Brendan Rodgers’ purchases last summer, Alberto Moreno was one of the better ones but even the jury is still out on some of his performances, such has been the disappointment in last season’s arrivals.
Upon signing for the Reds, Moreno was just making inroads into Vicente del Bosque’s plans at international level with Spain but with Jordi Alba and now Juan Bernat representing his first and second choices, Moreno is in the wilderness again after a good, not great season.
That said, Moreno still boasts promise and represents the modern breed of full back in energetically getting up the left flank to support attacks as well as defending.
With Jose Enrique representing a crock at the best of times, Moreno will again get his opportunity next season.
James Milner
The first big name arrival at Anfield this summer was James Milner and say what you like about the England international but he is someone who will continually fight for the cause while showing grit, determination and consistency.
Such qualities were lacking in a number of Liverpool players last term so it is good news that the Reds have managed to secure the services of somebody like Milner who you know you’ll get an 8/10 performance from most weeks during the season.
Milner is likely to play more centrally under Rodgers compared to on the flanks in his time with Manchester City and we’ve deployed him in the right central position of a midfield three in our dream starting eleven.
Jordan Henderson
Growing in stature and performances with each passing week last term, Liverpool’s new captain Jordan Henderson is improving all the time.
After a slow start to life at Anfield, Henderson is now starting to resemble a man rather than a boy and really drove Liverpool forward in that impressive spell two thirds of the way through the 2014/15 campaign.
Capable of grabbing goals, not to mention assisting the attacking players in front of him, Henderson needs to continue on this upward curve, most notably because the boots of Steven Gerrard have ultimately been left to fill recently.
With the Reds legend now an LA Galaxy player, Henderson won’t emulate the exploits of the iconic number 8 but he can at least try and improve his game in his own way.
Emre Can
Another of Liverpool’s more impressive purchases from last summer was German Under-21 international Emre Can who figured in multiple positions under Rodgers last term.
Having been deployed as a right sided centre back in a 3-5-2-type formation on a number of occasions, not to mention at right back in a 4-4-2, Can proved he can produce decent performances all over the pitch but against the likes of Eden Hazard, Alexis Sanchez and even Marko Arnautovic at right back, he sometimes struggled.
Still a work in progress of course at 21-years-old, we’ve installed Can in our dream starting eleven simply because he gives the Liverpool midfield more dynamism and energy.
He played and scored from this position against Chelsea at home last term and this is where we envisage him ending up long-term for the Reds.
Roberto Firmino
The most exciting Reds capture of the summer so far has undoubtedly been Brazilian international Roberto Firmino who we still fully expect will be the man to be replacing Manchester City bound Raheem Sterling.
A goalscoring and assists merchant in the Bundesliga with Hoffenheim in recent seasons, Firmino has recently broke into Dunga’s Brazil squad at international level, a mark of the performances in which we’ve come to expect from the attacking midfielder.
Signed for £21 million which could possibly rise to £29 million in add-ons, a lot will be expected of Firmino who is officially the Reds’ second most expensive import of all-time after Andy Carroll.
From what we’ve seen so far, it looks as if Firmino can live up to the billing but he’ll have to do what the likes of Lazar Markovic, Adam Lallana and Mario Balotelli couldn’t do in hitting the ground running.
Philippe Coutinho
Liverpool’s go-to man for creativity, Philippe Coutinho proved in 2014/15 that he can be considered one of the most shrewd signings of recent Premier League history.
Signed for just £8.5 million from Inter Milan, Coutinho is relishing the responsibility of energising the Reds’ attacks going forward after the departure of Luis Suarez and on the face of it, a link up with Brazilian counterpart Roberto Firmino looks a mouth-watering prospect on paper.
Capable of the sublime, Coutinho has been deployed as one of two attacking midfielders behind our central striker selection.
Christian Benteke
No it’s not Daniel Sturridge who cannot be relied upon injury wise but instead Christian Benteke who the papers reckon will be the next and possibly last big name arrival to come into Anfield this summer.
Our Reds supporting punters are split on the prospect of signing Benteke as the last piece in the jigsaw with some claiming he’s been there and done it in the Premier League already with others claiming he doesn’t fit Brendan Rodgers’ mantra with fellow big man Andy Carroll having already proved he couldn’t buy into the system.
One man who does believe he can be a hit with the Reds however is Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler who has claimed the Belgian international would be a “perfect” signing this summer.
Lets be honest, if Fowler is claiming Benteke will be good, perhaps Reds fans should trust the judgement of the man they used to refer to as ‘God’.
