A new Premier League season has only just kicked off, and we already have a number of teams in crisis.
One team was thumped 5-1 despite spending £75m on beefing up their squad (Aston Villa), newly-promoted teams looked utterly out of their depth (Luton Town), and some teams lost their greatest player of all time in the transfer window (Tottenham Hotspur).
But despite all of the above, for this week's edition of our 'crisis club of the week' series we've decided to go with midfielder-less Liverpool.
And here's why:
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What's the crisis?
A 1-1 draw with Chelsea at Stamford Bridge on the first weekend of the season isn't bad, at all. That's not why Liverpool are the 'crisis club of the week'.
The reason they are is down to matters off the field, particularly in the transfer market.
In the space of a few days the Reds saw Moises Caicedo refuse to join the club despite Liverpool seeing an offer of £111m be accepted by Brighton and instead join Chelsea, and Romeo Lavia opt to join Chelsea too despite Liverpool courting him for the last two months.
With both of these midfielders rejecting moves to Anfield, the Reds will go into the weekend's clash against Bournemouth likely with a striker playing midfield. That's not good.
Why are they in crisis?
Put simply: mismanagement of their transfer business.
In letting five midfielders in Fabinho, Jordan Henderson, Naby Keita, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and James Milner all leave this summer and only signing two new ones in Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai, Liverpool have left themselves very, very light in the centre of the pitch. So light in fact, that Jurgen Klopp was forced to play Cody Gakpo in the middle of the park in the draw with Chelsea - something which, judging by the rating given to him by 90min on Sunday, did not work.
While Liverpool have tried to bring in additional midfielders, from the outside looking in, negotiations have looked rather haphazard. Refusing to pay £50m for Lavia, then deciding to make a £111m bid for Caicedo, then missing out on Caicedo and eventually decided that they'd be willing to pay £55m for Lavia after Chelsea made a bid doesn't exactly scream 'Liverpool know what they're doing', does it?
What can they do to rectify it?
SIGN. A. MIDFIELDER.
Or maybe two midfielders if you're actually smart, Liverpool.
There's plenty out there in the market in Carlos Baleba, Cheick Doucoure, Ryan Gravenberch, Khephren Thuram, Manu Kone, Sofyan Amrabat, Joao Palhinha and Andre.
Go and get a few of them, for God's sake.
This article was originally published on 90min as Premier League crisis club of the week 2023/24 - Liverpool.