Date: 19th October 2013 at 1:00am
Written by:

During the summer transfer window, Liverpool were heavily linked with players such as Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Diego Costa. Mkhitaryan ended up snubbing Liverpool and decided to join Borussia Dortmund whilst Costa stayed on at Atletico Madrid. Both were big names signing which could have sufficed as the marquee signings that Liverpool fans wanted in the summer.

Former Liverpool midfielder, Jan Molby admits that it was a pity missing out on such big name players but he believes it is a good sign that Liverpool’s scouting department are identifying such good players. Molby said on 5times.co:

I was massively disappointed when we weren`t able to get a deal done for Henrikh Mkhitaryan in the summer because I felt he would have been perfect for what we needed, an extra bit of quality and real signal of intent. He has settled really well at Dortmund, Diego Costa can`t stop scoring either, but if we are to find a positive from it, the scouting network are certainly doing their job and spotting the right players, with Champions League football added to that we should be able to push those kind of deals through come next summer.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan would have been a great signing for Liverpool as we are desperately crying out for an attacking midfielder right now. It would have been interesting to see him play in the number 10 role behind Sturridge in Suarez in our current 3-5-2 formation. But the lure of Champions League football seemed to make him pick Dortmund instead of Liverpool and credit to him, he is doing well at the German club.

Whilst the signing of Diego Costa would have been an interesting one. It was thought that Costa was going to be signed as a replacement to Luis Suarez if he left Liverpool in the summer. If Suarez had left then we may have been seeing a Sturridge and Costa partnership which may actually have also worked out well for us. Costa is a great goalscorer and has an eye for goal as we can see now with his 10 goals already this season. Costa would not have struggled to adapt to the English game due to his physique and power, and probably would have been a great striker in the league.

Had Liverpool signed Costa and Suarez had stayed, we would have a wealth of talent upfront with Suarez, Costa and Sturridge. Rodgers may have had to stick with the 4-3-3 in order to accommodate all three upfront at the same time. What a strikeforce!

The important thing now for Liverpool, as Molby points out, is to be able to complete these deals. We can identify the talent, now to seal the deal. The only way we can be better at doing this is by offering Champions League football to our targets and hopefully that will be on offer come next summer.

 

One response to “What missing out on Mkhitaryan and Costa in the summer meant for Liverpool”

  1. PatrickThe Red says:

    It’s all about getting champions league football or being around the top of the league as long as possible so when good footballer see Liverpool up there through the season they’ll know we have a good team and might join. Finishing where we did last season would’ve put Mkhitaryan off.