Jamie Carragher has backed Liverpool to stick with what they have this season as calls for midfield reinforcements grow - the former Liverpool man has also tipped Harvey Elliott to have a ‘huge’ season in red.
The Reds have started the new campaign slowly, drawing against Fulham and Crystal Palace, and an early pile up of injuries has been cause for concern around Merseyside. Many of those problems have been concentrated in midfield, with Thiago, Curtis Jones and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain all currently sidelined - Naby Keita also missed the first two games through illness.
Jurgen Klopp still has up to six midfielders - Keita included - to pick from for Monday’s trip to Old Trafford, but all except Harvey Elliott and Fabio Carvalho are 27 or older and that has led to calls for the Reds boss to balance an ageing midfield in what's left of the window. But while Carragher agrees the age profile needs adjusting, the former Liverpool captain doesn’t see any further arrivals this summer, predicting that the club will have something ‘lined up’ next year.
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“I don’t think so,” Carragher told the Sky Sports Essential Football podcast when asked if he sees further signings. “I think they’d only go for a player they really wanted if he came on the market right now for whatever reason. I’m sure they’ve got something lined up for midfield next summer that’s why they haven’t done it this summer.
“They’ve certainly got the numbers in terms of midfielders but those numbers are getting over 30 and quite injury-prone, so you don’t see many of them playing or having a full season, so I think there will be a lot of chopping and changing in midfield. You’ll be surprised if any of them play over 30 games in that position because there’s so many options.
“I think Liverpool will go with what they’ve got. I think most will look at Liverpool’s first choice team and think they could do with a quality midfield player to come in there, a different age than what Liverpool’s first choice midfield is with Henderson, Thiago, Fabinho - Thiago’s out now at the moment - but they’re over 30.
“I think Harvey Elliott is going to have a huge season, played a lot in that position but I have no doubt that next summer Liverpool must have something lined up and if they do, they keep the powder dry, they don’t panic, they don’t go for someone that they don’t want, they wait for the right player and that happened with Virgil van Dijk and that’s proved really successful for Liverpool so I think they’ll do the same again.”
Liverpool have been heavily linked with a move for Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham, but the German outfit’s £100million valuation has kept any potential suitors at bay for now. The 19-year-old’s contract runs out in 2025, meaning next summer will be the point at which his value peaks, before diminishing as he nears the end of the current deal.
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