Former Liverpool ace Danny Murphy feels Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and James Milner could all leave Jurgen Klopp’s Premier League strugglers during the summer transfer window, speaking to talkSPORT.
When you take into account the age and the composition of this Liverpool squad, it should perhaps not come as so much of a surprise to see Klopp’s kingdom start to crumble.
Thiago Alcantara, Jordan Henderson, Virgil van Dijk, Roberto Firmino, Mo Salah, Naby Keita and the long-serving Milner are all over the age of 30. Fabinho and Oxlade-Chamberlain are 29.
Their replacements, meanwhile, are not quite ready to step up to the plate; Harvey Elliott, Fabio Carvalho and Stefan Bajcetic barely out of short trousers and far from the finished article.
So, on one hand, you have a group of ageing rockers, past their best and lacking the energy to mosh around in Klopp’s ‘heavy-metal’ band. And a bunch of kids not yet old enough for entry. There is, to put it simply, a shortage of players in their prime, at the peak of their powers.
A big rebuild may be coming at Liverpool
“We’re talking about a team that was not far off winning the quadruple last season,” explains Murphy.
“They don’t look at it. They don’t look like they’ve got much legs, or got much hunger. They’re missing players, of course they are. But they had some of those players at the beginning of the season, and results were the same.”
Murphy, an FA Cup and UEFA Cup winner under the late Gerard Houllier back in 2001, expects to see some of Liverpool’s longest-serving players bid an emotional farewell at the end of a torturous and troubled campaign.
“I think there’s a rebuild needed,” the former England international adds. “And by that I mean players out the door and a few more in. Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain is out of contract, and I wouldn’t be surprised to see Naby Keita go.
“I’m not sure James Milner is going to stay for another year. If he does, he won’t be playing much. That’s three midfielders (leaving).
“The midfield needs freshening up.”
Receive exclusive football transfer news and updates twice a week to your mailbox
