Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers has told talkSPORT radio he will be given money to spend in January and plans to make ‘one or two’ loan signings.
Liverpool have one of the smallest squads in the Premier League and the expectation has been that Rodgers would be bringing in a host of new signings when the transfer window re-opens.
But that might not be the case. Rodgers told the Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast Show:
“The squad has been ultra-thin right the way through. There will be some money available.
“There have been a million names linked to the club and the brutal honesty of it is that ninety nine per cent of those we haven’t been thinking about.
“But there will be a bit of money to spend and hopefully we can get one or two loans in, if that’s possible, to reinforce the group.”
One area that Liverpool has to strengthen is up-front where Suarez is the only fit striker in the squad. Liverpool have been linked with a loan move for the out-of-favour Aston Villa striker Darren Bent, but I don’t see that happening as Bent does not fit Rodgers’s style of play.
Another name long linked with Liverpool is Chelsea striker Daniel Sturridge, but he will not be cheap and I don’t know if Liverpool have the reported £15 million it would take to sign Sturridge.
Cheaper alternatives are Arsenal’s Theo Walcott and Blackpool’s Thomas Ince, who ironically was let go by Liverpool a year ago.
But neither Walcott or Ince is a pure striker, and Rodgers cannot hope to get through the rest of the season without bringing someone in to help Suarez out.
It has been a tough start to his Liverpool managerial career for Rodgers. A brutal fixture list meant that Liverpool started the season slowly. But Liverpool seems to have found some form in recent weeks, and is unbeaten in its past eight Premier League games heading into tonight’s trip to White Hart Lane to play Spurs.
“I think we are on the up and improving all the time,” said Rodgers.
“It was obviously very difficult at the beginning with tough games and trying to implement new ideas. It’s difficult when you are playing against some of the big sides and established sides.
“I think we have been continually improving and getting better and the application of the players has been outstanding. They have been superb in terms of wanting to learn, wanting to improve and wanting to work.
“We are just becoming better and better all the time.”
