After a poor season by Liverpool’s recent standards, Jurgen Klopp needs to be hunting around for the best available talent this summer, and former Kop star, John Barnes, has revealed that the Reds will aim to get someone who Thierry Henry has described as ‘complete.’
The calibre of player open to being recruited by the Anfield outfit will largely be dictated by whether the Reds can make Champions League football for next season or not.
At present, Liverpool find themselves in sixth position in the Premier League table, and six points from fourth.
With 12 games left to play, there’s still plenty of time for them to make a late charge towards the summit, however, their form across 2022/23 hasn’t been the best, so a Europa League berth might be more likely.
Speaking on talkSPORT, cited by HITC, Barnes suggested that the Reds will try and bring Borussia Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham back to England.
“We all want to spend big. But if you’re not going to get better than what you have got, then what is the point of spending big?!,” he was quoted as saying.
“If you look at the players that have come in during the last 18 months. They have signed four or five players that are young.
“But now they are going to go for experienced players. Okay, Jude Bellingham is young and they will try to get him. He is fairly experienced and he is one that everybody wants.
“I think they will get players to come into the first-team to make a difference, not just to spend money for the sake of it.”
Even though he’s just 19, it’s clear that Bellingham has a big future in the game, and he would be just the sort of dynamic midfielder that could galvanise that area of the Liverpool squad.
Henry is in no doubt as to the youngster’s potential either.
“He’s all-round and he is complete,” he said on CBS Sports, cited by HITC.
“He likes to show some movement and skills. What I like is how he always holds the ball. He never hides.
“If he has to defend or attack, he is always on the ball trying to see if he could feed his strikers – he is also willing to try and get the ball back. It’s not only about skills – He can do whatever he wants at this stage and we all know that’s why a lot of people want him because he also has that in his locker.”