Exclusive: Collymore’s reasons why Liverpool fans should be careful what they wish for
It’s certainly been a quiet summer transfer window for Liverpool at the moment, and that could be worrying for fans of the club who are already wondering how things are going to end up post-Jurgen Klopp.
A feature of Klopp’s reign was getting transfer business done early and bedding everyone in well before pre-season begins in earnest.
From Slot’s point of view, he has incredible pressure on his shoulders purely because of the fact that he’s first in the door after the German, so one can’t really blame him for taking the time to survey his options.
Arne Slot must be given time at Liverpool
In this day and age, however, supporters of every club seemingly want deals done incessantly with no regard for the machinations going on behind the scenes.
Former Reds striker, Stan Collymore, has sounded a note of caution to those whose patience is already wearing thin.
“Liverpool fans are unhappy at the club’s lack of transfer business this summer, but what seems to happen with progressive coaches, and I saw it with Unai Emery when he came to Aston Villa, is that they’ll have a really good look at the academy and at who’s loaned out first,” he said to CaughtOffside for his exclusive column.
“I think that the fundamentals with Liverpool at this point are fairly similar to Villa in terms of Arne Slot wanting to assess what he’s got, and that’s not just in the first team squad.
“Liverpool, historically, have been good at producing players and Slot will want to have a look at them all together before going to the technical board and saying ‘I need a right back, I need a central midfielder, I need a wide left player,’ – and I think that’s the best way to do it.
“Liverpool fans ranting and raving on X don’t quite understand that the new manager almost has to have an inventory or a stock take first to see who’s good enough and who’s not good enough.
“What the club don’t wan’t and what football should never be about, but what football fans have indulged over the last 10 years is the ridiculous yellow tie, yellow dress wearing Sky Sports News Deadline Day brigade, where fans are just hoping that the club gets anybody through the door.
“Especially now with FFP, clubs need to be more creative.
“What do Liverpool fans really want? Their club blowing £50m/£60m on a player that will end up being surplus to requirements, or blowing £5m a year on a recruitment guy that keeps them with a pipeline of the world’s best talent over the next five or six years.
“For me, it’s a no brainer. The latter scenario means the football club is sustainable, works better and their recruitment looks much more solid.”
With over a month still to go before the transfer window closes for business, Collymore does have a salient point to make.
The Reds can’t afford to put a foot wrong in terms of recruitment, and therefore must not bow to the pressure coming from supporters.
It may well be that Slot believes that ‘if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it,’ and there might just be a tweak here and there to ease the club through the first half of the campaign.
The Dutchman needs to be trusted and afforded the time to work, and if he’s allowed to get on with things then who’s to say that he can’t become as successful as his predecessor in due course.
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