Liverpool also have designs on the Shakhtar Donetsk attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, as they look to reshape their squad drastically. Andy Carroll has left too, departing for West Ham permanently with a £1 million golden handshake.
It is an important summer for Liverpool. Brendan Rodgers was able to get away with failing to qualify for Europe last season as the club rebuild after several years of turmoil and change. But with a talented young manager implementing a brand of attacking football worthy of one of English football’s greatest clubs, the Anfield giants may be on the rise once again.
Some of the signings do betray the fact that Liverpool’s standing in the game has dropped. Shopping for Manchester City cast offs such as Toure, while going for the likes of Aspas and Alberto who are not coveted by many other major clubs is a sign that Liverpool have had to go for good, but not world class, players this summer.
Still that is not a reason to chide the club. They are investing sensibly, using the money available to them to buy a number of quality players rather than one or two overrated British stars, as they have in the past (Steward Downing, Jordan Henderson and of course Carroll spring to mind). Aspas and Alberto are both excellent players who offer them something, Toure brings experience even if he isn’t quite the player he used to be. But he is a back up player, not a first team one. Atsu is a very promising Ghanaian forward, Mignolet a proven and reliable Premier League goalkeeper, and Mkhitaryan could be the best of the lot. The Armenian forward is a fantastic player, technical and creative with huge ability. He scored a significant number of goals last season as he stepped up to fill the shoes of Jadson impressively. In fact, he more than filled the boots of the departed Brazilian. Mkhitaryan was key to so much of Shakhtar’s best play last season, and he would be a brilliant addition.
A forward line next season comprising Mkhitaryan, Luis Suarez and that other fantastic signing, Coutinho, would be dazzling. All creative, skilful and with an eye for goal, Liverpool would become increasingly entertaining and threatening going forward. And don’t forget Daniel Sturridge, who Rodgers is getting the best of after a difficult career to date.
It all mounts up to a big summer for Liverpool. There is an opportunity with so many changes at the top clubs taking place, and Liverpool showed promise last year. They failed to beat many top teams but they did outplay quite a few of them, and showed their class in big games even if they didn’t get results. Rodgers knows this season they must start to get results, and the very least they must achieve is a battle to the end for a Champions League spot. Anything else and Liverpool would consider that they have not made progress. But the signs are that they are making swift and promising steps towards their target.
