Michael Edwards’ number one summer priority should be so obvious at Liverpool – Our View

Liverpool had their most frantic deadline day in a decade on Monday as they completed the signings of Ozan Kabak and  Ben Davies to finally bolster their struggling defence.

You wouldn’t usually describe the reigning Premier League champions signing a player from Preston and a player from the worst team in the Bundesliga as a success, but as we all know, desperate times call for desperate measures.

Indeed, there has been a massive injury crisis at the back this term as Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and now Joel Matip are all unlikely to play again this season.

Liverpool have been very fortunate with injuries in recent years, but this season, they’ve had no such luck, and this sort of crisis should be a massive lesson learnt for Michael Edwards, whose summer priority should now be abundantly clear.

Indeed, centre-backs were the issue this season, but who’s to say that the same couldn’t happen with Liverpool’s attackers going forward?

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Diogo Jota has already picked up a serious injury, and if Liverpool had the same sort of crisis they’ve had with Matip, van Dijk and Gomez with Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah and Sadio Mane, they’d be in all sorts of trouble.

Jota is obviously a capable backup, but beyond that, it’s hard to make a case that either Divock Origi or Takumi Minamino are going to be capable of leading a line in a team pushing for top honours.

Of course, Mane, Salah and Firmino going down injured at the same time is massively unlikely, but as the centre-back crisis this season has shown, anything is possible and it helps to be prepared for these situations.

Signing another quality backup forward who can push Liverpool’s established front three for a starting place is vital for the Reds this summer, as at the moment, their attack is vulnerable to suffering the same fate their defence has this season.

Fingers crossed Edwards and his recruitment team are already making plans.

In other news, 'He will leave': Club say 'incredible' CB is leaving on a free, Spurs and Arsenal want him