John Barnes believes Liverpool should be looking to add strength in depth with the signing of players like Chelsea’s Aston Villa loanee Danny Drinkwater, speaking to Sky Sports (22 June, 10pm).
If the Reds have the finest starting XI in Europe right now, there is certainly an argument to be made that, for all their quality, the Premier League leaders are lacking in quantity.
While Manchester City brought Kevin de Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Leroy Sane and Aymeric Laporte off the bench during Monday’s 5-0 shellacking of Burnley, Jurgen Klopp’s dugout was filled with unproven youngsters and out-of-favour fringe players.
The likes of Dejan Lovren, Divock Origi and Xherdan Shaqiri have struggled to really stake a claim for a starting berth during rare opportunities to impress in recent months.
And with Liverpool looking to do a better job of balancing Premier League and European football with a domestic cup challenge next season, Anfield legend Barnes feels that the Merseyside giants could do worse than to offer an England international a fresh start.
“You look at a player who can come and fit into our midfield where Man City would go, ‘no, he’s not for us because of his ‘technical’ ability’ but he can fit into what Liverpool want,” Barnes says.
“If Jurgen Klopp stays, and he has this template, there are lots of players (like that) out there.
“I’m looking at Leicester when they had Danny Drinkwater, players who people might not think are great players, they could fit into what Liverpool want and still make Liverpool be one of the best teams.”
Drinkwater scribed his name into Premier League folklore when he helped Leicester pull off a modern-day sporting miracle in 2016, forming a formidable midfield partnership with N’Golo Kante.
But the 30-year-old has not come close to replicating that success since joining Chelsea in a £30 million deal three years ago. He has started a total of ten Premier League games in the last three years.
And if it is first-team football Drinkwater wants, Liverpool is hardly the right destination.
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