Four things Liverpool need to get right for next season

15 April 2013 12:07

With only a clutch of games remaining, a lot of reds fans (myself included) cannot wait for this season to end.

Even though we are only 2 points (at time of writing) behind our points total from last season, it still feels like a season full of missed opportunities and of course some bad luck.

There’s a lot of talk of players coming and going during the summer and I for one hope that the moves that are made are the right ones that help put the club back where we aspire to and should be.

I have belief that Brendan Rodgers knows what he's doing and will, given time get the club moving up the table and back in contention for major honours. There are however a few areas that need to be covered to help get the wheels in motion.

1. Summer signings.

This is imperative above all else, Rodgers needs to get the board to sanction the moves for players he wants/needs. It doesn't matter who the names are at this point in time, as long as they are the right players.

Whether it be Christian Eriksen, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Arda Turan or Keisuke Honda, if those are the right players then they need to be signed.

Liverpool have been criticised a lot over the years for signing players that end up rotting on the bench or fading into obscurity and then being released. This is something that can’t happen this summer.

After signing Fabio Borini and Joe Allen for fairly large sums of money, both haven’t lived up to their price tags or ability and things like this can’t happen again. Rodgers did 2 great bits of business in January after bringing in Daniel Sturridge and Phillipe Coutinho and let’s hope that’s the start of a trend that continues for many years.

2. Departures.

This I know will happen, players will inevitably leave this summer and we all have our own views on who will & who won’t go this summer. I won’t start naming names this time, but I will say that the underperforming high earners need to be shipped out this summer.

Rodgers and the team did a great job of slashing the wage bill by moving on the likes of Joe Cole, Charlie Adam & Doni. Whilst a few players left that fans including myself were a bit surprised to see leave (Kuyt, Maxi, Bellamy) all helped reign in the massive wage bill.

3. Naming Rights.

Recently Manchester United announced they had struck a deal with AON over a naming rights deal for their Carrington training ground. This is something Liverpool need to look into as the revenue increase could be highly beneficial to the club in the long run.

According to the BBC's David Bond United's deal is worth around £15m a year for 8 years, that’s £120m. That’s a vast sum of money to be pumping into their club and it’s an avenue Liverpool need to look into as soon as possible.

There are still no plans in place regarding Anfield's re-development & expansion which would obviously help boost the clubs finances due to higher gate returns, but until something’s in place the naming rights for Melwood would be a great asset to have.

4. Luis Suarez.

I left this until last but it’s equally as important as the first point.

There haven’t been many players to come to the club and make an impact like the Uruguayan has in recent memory. Rumours surrounding him and Europe’s elite planning summer moves for Liverpool's number 7 seem to appear almost on a daily basis.

If it’s not Bayern Munich, it’s Real Madrid and we all know that it would be hard to say no to clubs like that.

Liverpool need to keep Suarez at the club at all costs, his 29 goals in all competitions tell most of the story and that story would be very bleak if he wasn’t at the club next season.

Liverpool with Suarez in the mix are a completely different team to one without him, his skills awareness and trickery are just incredible and it’s no wonder he's a wanted man, but it’s something Liverpool are fully aware of.

If he's wearing the red of Liverpool next season and has a higher calibre of players around him, I’m sure this time next season Liverpool fans around the world will be smiling for more reasons than just managing to keep 'El Pistolero' at Anfield.

Source: DSG