Jordan Henderson backs £179m arrivals to fire…

Jordan Henderson backs £179m arrivals to fire Liverpool back to the top

Jordan Henderson has backed Liverpool's new-look forward line to get them challenging for the top honours once more next season.

The Reds have forked close to £140m since January 2022 to bring Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo to Anfield and the trio could eventually cost the club as much as £179m if all add-ons are achieved.

Diaz was first through the door, arriving midway through last season from Porto to inject fresh impetus into a campaign that ended with the Reds winning both domestic cups en route to a 92-point Premier League finish and a Champions League runners-up spot. The Colombia international, however, has spent six months on the sidelines with a knee injury this time out, which has limited him to just 18 appearances.

Nunez joined from Benfica last June for a £64m sum that could rise to a club-record £85m, while Gakpo was a January addition from PSV Eindhoven for a figure that may reach £44m. With Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah also part of the frontline options for Jurgen Klopp, Liverpool captain Henderson feels an "exciting" blend up top will be vital from next term.

"I think the performances have been a lot better [of late], controlling games a lot more and defending better as a team," Henderson told Sky Sports. "The energy levels look a lot better. Again, there are different reasons for that and we just look a lot more like ourselves with and without the ball. We all know when we are ourselves that we can beat any team that we play. But it's about doing that more on a consistent basis and that is what we need to get back to.

"Things evolve all the time and we've had new players come into that forward line and they are very exciting players. And there are a lot of different things we can use and different personnel that can do different things really. So, yeah, it is really exciting and it's just about putting that together to make it the best version of the team. We have a lot of quality players that can go up front and all of them can score goals, so we need to use that to our advantage next season."

The Reds skipper added: "It's been a bit of a roller coaster for us this season to be honest. We've probably struggled to find consistency for the majority of it. We've had some brilliant days and brilliant games, but just not enough really. And then obviously in the middle of that you've had the World Cup, so it's been a bit of a crazy season, for everyone really.

"But thankfully we've managed to stay together and the last few weeks have been a bit better and we've looked a lot more like us. So hopefully we can finish the season off strong and then carry that into next season.

"I think we've just been working hard on the training field. We're always trying to work and be better all the time and the last few weeks, we've had more time and space in between games to train and to work on different things, which has probably helped us a lot. And then we've picked up a couple of wins and obviously confidence is a little bit higher, then we've got momentum and then all of a sudden, you're on a little bit of a run.

"So I think there are different reasons for that but the good thing is we look a lot more like ourselves and I think there is still a long way to go in terms of improvement for us but the signs are good. Hopefully we can finish these three games off strongly and take that into next season."

READ NEXT:

Read news from 100’s of titles, curated specifically for you.

Already a member? Sign in here