‘It would be ridiculous to suggest there would not be a slight drop off’: Gary Neville doubts Liverpool can maintain relentless form without a big-name signing like Thiago… and hits out at former club Manchester United for their transfer market hesitance
- Gary Neville has weighed in on his predictions for new Premier League season
- Sky Sports analyst thinks Liverpool need world class signing to maintain form
- The former Manchester United defender encouraged United to sign Thiago
- He also criticised his former club for their lack of activity in the transfer market
Liverpool will struggle to maintain their performance levels after the emotional drain of the past two seasons if they do not add a world class player like Bayern Munich’s Thiago Alcantara, Gary Neville believes.
The Sky Sports analyst – who, like Jurgen Klopp’s players, lifted the Champions League and Premier League trophies in consecutive Manchester United seasons – said Liverpool should move for £26m Alcantara, who would cost £26m, regardless of whether Georginio Wijnaldum moves to Barcelona.
Neville said: ‘To ask them to go again and achieve that same standard would be a super human effort. It would be ridiculous to suggest there would not be a slight drop off, if they don’t somehow stimulate that squad by doing something.
Gary Neville says Liverpool will struggle to maintain their form without a world-class signing
The Sky Sports analyst encouraged the Reds to secure the signing of Thiago Alcantara
‘Because the team’s been so good and the coach has been so good… that dressing room would probably want that challenge of a new player coming in.’
Neville, who predicts that City will re-claim their crown, believes that Klopp’s side have room to improve in central midfield with Alcantara. ‘They are not perfect. You feel they could have a better midfielder to control the game and can find the weight of pass; that nous.’
Neville expressed frustration at Manchester United’s failure to bring in more than one signing, laying the blame at the door of a board he says repeatedly fails to get deals over the line and should have signed Jadon Sancho by now.
Neville also criticised former club Manchester United for their lack of activity in the transfer market after struggling for most of the summer to sign Jadon Sancho from Borussia Dortmund
He said: This should be a market where clubs with financial support and backing can really do well, because other clubs need money. They need four or five players of the highest quality… that can go into the first team.’
The former United captain voiced concern that the two-way tussle for the No 1 goalkeeping position risked de-stablizing his old club.
‘You’re always better having an excellent No1 and a quite clear very good No2,’ Neville said. ‘The idea that you’ve got David de Gea at the moment where questions are being asked and you have got this young, emerging keeper (Dean Henderson) who is eager, keen – I would say almost desperate – to get in.
‘Where we had a changing goalkeeping situation (at United) between Roy Carroll and Tim Howard, it was unhealthy. None of them really knew who the No1 was. None of them probably felt fully supported. Both probably felt like they were one mistake away from the other one playing.’
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