It is well known that Liverpool are looking to offload quite a large number of players during the summer due to too many poor performances this season. It looked as though Liverpool were looking to get rid of Brendan Rodgers and as many as a dozen players including: Iago Aspas, Luis Alberto, Glen Johnson, Steven Gerrard, Mario Balotelli, Rickie Lambert, Fabio Borini, Sebastian Coates, Brad Jones, Jose Enrique, Kolo Toure, Raheem Sterling, Lazar Markovic, Joao Teixera, and maybe Lucas Leiva and Tiago Ilori. It appears that as the dust is beginning to settle that the owners are having a change of heart and are willing to give many of these players another chance. The most surprising that FSG are supposedly willing to give Rodgers another season despite an embarrassing campaign and having quality managers like Klopp and Ancelotti available to replace him. Another shock were contract renewals for Kolo Toure and Andre Wisdom. Rodgers has also made it clear that Liverpool don't plan on selling Raheem Sterling and expect him to see out his remaining 2 years of his contract. The last to mention was reported today when Balotelli's agent reiterated that his client will not be moving this summer.
The news that Balo will be staying (supposedly) another season is the most shocking since Liverpool are is such dire need of a proper replacement for Suarez and it is hard to see the owners sanctioning signing another expensive striker with big wage demands. It hasn't even been a week since the season ended and already it appears that it will be much harder for Liverpool to move unwanted players away. Players like Enrique, Alberto, Coates and Jones will likely find it hard to find permanent transfer suitors due to their lack of playing time recently. Most Liverpool fans were looking forget this season ever happened but now it appears as though fans will have to relive it as most of the under performers will be returning next season. This is not all bad though, it will definitely save a bit of face for the transfer committee by not getting rid of half of last summer's signings.
So how will the summer transfer plans be different now that we know that major changes in personnel won't be happening? For one don't expect a top striker to be signed. I expect Liverpool to get rid of Iago Aspas, Fabio Borini and/or Rickie Lambert. If they get rid of all of them then I could see them signing another striker of a similar caliber such as Danny Ings. The renewing of Andre Wisdom's contract and the fact that Javier Manquillo's 2 year loan spell hasn't been canceled is leading us to believe that Liverpool will not be signing a new right back as well. This is almost as worrying as not signing a new striker. Manquillo is average and Wisdom is not any better, though he might end up playing center back in a back three which might suit Wisdom better. With Gerrard leaving it is expected that Emre Can will be moving to his preferred position as a defending midfielder instead of center or right back. Despite this Gerrard leaves the midfield a bit shorthanded, especially in terms of top level experience. Lucas would be the one with the most experience but I think Can will edge him out for a place in the starting lineup which means that Henderson will have the most experience, which is a bit of a worry. Hopefully Liverpool end up signing James Milner on a free transfer to give the midfield some needed experience. Milner has mostly been employed as a winger but he has stated that he would prefer to play in a more central role like he did in his last year with Villa. The last thing worth mentioning is the potential departure of our top scorer and most promising young player Raheem Sterling. If Sterling is sold then I believe Liverpool will use most of the profits from his sale to get a replacement. I believe that this will be the area that Liverpool will improve on this summer. There are so many top wingers/attacking midfielders available that it will be easy to get another great one. My hope is a Sterling/Walcott swap but there are plenty others like Javier Pastore, Eduardo Salvio. James Milner, Alexandre Lacazette (yeah I know he is primarily a striker but he is fine in any attacking role), Denis Cheryshev, Andre Ayew, Arda Turan, Jeremy Menez, Pedro, Yannick Bolasie. That is not to mention all of the promising young wingers currently at the club including Adam Lallana, Jordan Ibe, Lazar Markovic, Jerome Sinclair, and Sheyi Ojo.
All of this is to say that the owners will probably not be making wholesale changes this summer. Its probably not the best thing to do, but this is the Liverpool we have to live with. Let's just hope that there are enough improvements made to the squad to make a difference, if only ever so slightly, so that we don't have to endure any painful season. #Klopp for Kop
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