Liverpool need to be making marquee additions to their ranks in order to maintain the standards set over recent seasons, says Stan Collymore, with Barcelona forward Antoine Griezmann considered to be the kind of “cavalry” that the Reds require.
Jurgen Klopp has pieced together a star-studded squad at Anfield – one good enough to land Champions League, Club World Cup and Premier League titles.
There has, however, been little movement on the recruitment front in recent windows, with funds and suitable targets proving to be in short supply.
Collymore hopes the Merseyside giants acknowledge that reinforcements are needed before the next deadline passes, with ambitious outfits needing to seek continuous improvement.
The former Reds striker has welcomed speculation regarding supposed interest in France international Griezmann, with the World Cup winner ticking important boxes when it comes to raising collective standards.
“Kop fans must be very concerned that Liverpool have made no big-name signings this summer,” Collymore told The Mirror.
“Where are the players whose arrivals would make the dressing-room sit up and think: ‘We’d better push ourselves even more this season because the gaffer is getting serious’?
“Even with reinforcements it would be very difficult for the Reds to match last season’s form; without them it would be almost impossible.
“Don’t get me wrong, we know the title winners have an excellent mentality, so of course they will be competitive once again. Under boss Jurgen Klopp, that’s practically a given.
“But history tells us that players need pushing most when they have just won something and Liverpool’s squad will be no different.”
Collymore added, with the Reds set to open their 2020-21 campaign at home to Leeds on Saturday: “The question heading into the new season has to be whether Liverpool have enough players to turn what is clearly a very good team into a generational team like the Manchester United side of the nineties and noughties. United boss Sir Alex Ferguson created a dynasty by constantly freshening things up with marquee signings. Liverpool haven’t yet done that.
“Signings like that say: ‘This is a test for you in the dressing-room now.’ Compare that to the message Liverpool’s dressing room has received with the arrival of only full-back Konstantinos Tsimikas in the summer and Takumi Minamino in January.
“That’s why I like the Antoine Griezmann rumour – if Liverpool were to get the French international striker then the dressing room would be thinking the cavalry had finally arrived.
“But if you don’t have that you start thinking: ‘Hang on, we might yet lose Gini Wijnaldum, we haven’t really brought anyone in, can we push on?’”
Liverpool have been linked with a number of players in the current window, from Kalidou Koulibaly to Jadon Sancho, but Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara appears to be their top target heading towards the October 5 deadline.