Liverpool told to make new signings – or risk finishing fourth this season

Paul Merson has stated his belief that Liverpool could finish as low as fourth this season unless they improve their squad before the end of the transfer window.

Jurgen Klopp’s side romped to the Premier League title in the last campaign, finishing a huge 18 points ahead of second place Manchester City.

But they almost slipped up on the first day of the new season, needing a late Mohamed Salah penalty to secure a dramatic 4-3 win over Leeds on Saturday.

So far this summer Liverpool have only brought in one new player, with left-back Konstantinos Tsimikas joining from Olympiacos.

And writing in his column for Sky Sports Merson warned the reigning champions that without reinforcements they could easily relinquish their Premier League crown.

“You look at the goals Liverpool let in against Leeds: wow,” he said. “I just think they turned up and thought they would wipe the floor with Leeds.

“I think they need to buy someone. It would not surprise me if they finished fourth this season, and I thought that before this game.

“It’s the same team, and they have a massive amount of players who have to play every week. Virgil van Dijk cannot get injured. The full-backs cannot get injured. They have not got anyone to replace the front three if they are injured.”

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Merson argued that City still have greater strength in depth than Liverpool, and thinks it could only take one or two injuries for Klopp’s team to begin to suffer.

“If Man City get injuries, they will just play: ‘We’ll score more goals than you’ anyway,” he added. “What we’ll see later in the season is teams like Man City come into the fold massively, because their squad is too big.

“That’s why I worry about Liverpool, there’s five or six players who must play week in, week out, otherwise the team is weakened immensely.”