Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard says the club need to bring in a goalscoring midfielder in the transfer window.
Gerrard, who is now the manager of Aston Villa, said Jordan Henderson and James Milner “aren’t getting any younger” and Jurgen Klopp needs to start to plan for the future.
“They’re [Henderson and Milner] still top players at this level, of course, and they’ll want to go on and do more,” he told BT Sport. “But for Liverpool, if you think about the next five, six, seven years, they’re going to need a midfielder – a No 8 who can get goals, who can get double figures.
“They are heavily reliant on the front three – or the front five if you include Diogo Jota and Roberto Firmino. You always need one of those midfielders that’s going to get in the box and get you goals.”
Sadio Mane has been linked with a move away from Anfield to Bayern Munich, while Liverpool’s top scorer this season, Mohamed Salah, has confirmed he will be staying with the Reds.
Gerrard added that he doesn’t see any reason why a player would leave the club.
“Salah has already said that he is going to be here next year, I know there is a bit of noise around Mane,” he said.
“But why would you want to leave this Liverpool team, because you know that they are going to be competitive in the business end of the season?”
There have been conflicting reports around whether Mane has told Liverpool he wants to leave. But when asked about the player’s future at the Champions League final, which Liverpool lost 1-0 to Real Madrid, Klopp was gracious.
“Wherever Sadio will play next year, he will be a big player,” said the Reds coach.
