Last summer, the only decision that helped Liverpool propel way ahead of Tottenham was to keep their star man Luis Suarez. Spurs on the other end did exactly the opposite by selling Bale and signed several stars for a combined worth of over £100m.
However, the Reds have failed to keep the Uruguayan international this summer as Suarez departed Anfield to sign for Spanish giants Barcelona in £75m deal.
Last year, BR claimed that the merseysiders need to copy Spurs in the transfer market to bring quality players but it will take time.
“We still need to make improvements. Tottenham have spent £100m to try and get in the top four. It will take another few windows to get that quality in the group.”
The biggest dilemma is that even after spending huge sum to bring quality players, Spurs suffered big time. Can Liverpool avoid the same sort of decline.
There was never going to be a direct replacement for Bale and same is the case with Luis Suarez. For now, Liverpool boss has the funds and perhaps he is doing exactly the same as Tottenham did last summer.
Lamela – Markovic
Spurs broke their transfer record to sign 21 year old Lamela last summer. One of the brightest young talents who scored 15 goals in 33 Serie A appearances for Roma in 2012-2013 season. The Argentine failed to settle in quickly, AVB did not use him much either as Erik could only play in 9 PL games. Would be interesting to see how he performs under Pochettino.
In Markovic Liverpool have also signed one of the brightest young prospects. The Anfield faithful hopes that he is nothing like compatriot LFC flop Jovanovic.
Eriksen – Lallana
Eriksen was perhaps the only signing of last summer that proved to be a hit for Spurs. Capable of playing out wide as well as centrally, the Danish playmaker was the bargain buy for the North Londoners.
Liverpool have signed another versatile attacker in the form Adam Lallana who made the PFA team of the year for his brilliant performances with the Saints.
Paulinho – Can
AVB signed Brazilian central midfielder Paulinho who was key member of the squad that won the Confederations cup last year. However, the Samba star failed to shine in his first season with Spurs.
Liverpool have signed Emre Can mainly for the midfield position but the German star is the definition of versatility having played at LB, LF, AM, DM, CM, CB for Bayer Leverkusen.
Soldado – Lambert, Remy
Spurs lacked a world class striker upfront and perhaps thought that Soldado will solve that dilemma. The Spanish international scored 24 goals in La Liga in 2012-2013 but turned into an absolute Torres in his first season with Spurs. An ultimate flop with 6 goals in 28 PL games.
Liverpool have signed veteran Lambert and are close to sealing Remy but unlike Soldado both are proven premier league players so that is a plus for the Reds. Belgian youngster Origi is also close but will probably play for Lille on loan next season.
Chiriches – Lovren
Spurs signed center back Vlad Chiriches from Bucharest but the Romanian had an injury hit season with the club as he could only feature in 17 league games.
Liverpool are eager to hire the services of another Saint star in the form of Croat center half Dejan Lovren who was another key player for Southampton last season.
Conclusion
Liverpool are covering the same positions as Spurs did last summer but it can be argued that they are signing more PL proven and more versatile players.
Still, the supporters do remember the horror story of signing PL proven players in England’s so called best striker at that time, Andy Carroll, Blackpool’s best player Charlie Adam, and Villa’s best player Stewart Downing as well.
Reds will hope that the new signings gel in well before the start of season but will the club take a step in the forward direction and not backward like Spurs, only time will tell.
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Add Milner or Draxler for Chadli and the mix is complete. I had my fears and even more amplified now after the few pre-season performances.
Only hope… Spurs had AVB, LFC have Rodgers and I beleive BR will get the best out of them
It’s ridiculous to say Liverpool are copying Spurs in their transfer methods. Spurs were reckless and did little research on their signings – they were also not the signings of the manager at the time (AVB) hence why they didn’t fit into any particular system. Rogers is adding to his system and they will fit in nicely.
The mistake is in believing the media agenda that Spurs’ transfer dealings were ‘a disaster’. It was a little bit disappointing – but these players were bought to improve the quality of the squad for the long-term. It’s quite simple, really: if it is standard to allow a new player a season to settle, especially an overseas player, and even more especially young overseas players (and six of Spurs’ seven signings last summer were under 25 YO at point of signing), then the formula isn’t 1 divided by seven per player (or less than 2 months). You allow each player his own individual season’s worth of ‘settling’. The media constantly need headlines, and the more sensational the better. “Summer signings FLOP” makes a better headline than “It’s alright, it would have been nice if they had all settled immediately, but there’s no need to panic” as a weekly headline 🙂
TBH, Liverpool fans should be focusing on the longer term implications of these signings and their academy than worrying about having another title tilt, IMHO.