Rodgers excites fans with transfer promises – but admits disappointment at missing out on Mkhitaryan.
Liverpool’s manager Brendan Rodgers is confident that the Reds will sign at least one more exciting first team player this summer, he told the Liverpool Echo.
“Nothing is close but plenty of work is going on,” Rodgers told the Merseyside paper.
“How near or far we are, I will find out in Melbourne. There is daily dialogue going on but I am confident that we will get the one or two players who will really excite and complete the jigsaw.”
Fans will be pleased to hear the news, and will be eagerly awaiting the arrival of an established first team player. The Reds have been strongly linked to young, talented and technically gifted attackers that fit perfectly into Rodgers’ footballing ethos; like Bernard, Christian Eriksen and Xherdan Shaqiri – and any one of these would be a massive coup for a club without Champions League football.
However, the Reds face a five club tussle for Bernard, Eriksen could chose AC Milan instead, and Bayern Munich have warned that Shaqiri is not for sale.
This could mean Liverpool eventually miss out on another top target after their protracted chase for Henrikh Mkhitaryan ended in failure. The Armenian goal-scoring midfielder chose to join Borussia Dortmund instead, which bitterly disappointed Rodgers.
“There has been lots of players linked but the fact is we really only had one (top target) and unfortunately we didn’t get the chance to speak to that player before he moved from Shakhtar,” said the Northern Irishman.
“We had spoken to Shakhtar, we had got permission to speak to him but unfortunately I didn’t get the chance to sit down in front of him. It was already in place with Dortmund so that was disappointing.”
Liverpool have been one of the most active clubs in the Premier League transfer window this summer, spending roughly £23m on the incoming trio of Simon Mignolet, Iago Aspas and Luis Alberto, and have snapped up Kolo Toure on a free.
However, following last season’s seventh place finish, Rodgers knows his side needs to take risks in the transfer market, as the clubs above continue to spend money, and lure players with the offer of Champions League football.
Liverpool are aiming to sign a top-quality centre-half, and a technical attacking midfielder. If they can secure a deal for Kyriakos Papadopolous or Toby Alderwiereld in defence, and a young technical attacker, fans will be hopeful the team can make a genuine top four push this season.
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