Brendan Rodgers says Liverpool must work harder to land their marquee transfer targets.
The Reds were given a painful reminder of what they could have had on Saturday, when former target Diego Costa fired the winner to send Chelsea 15 points clear of Liverpool at the top of the table.
Rodgers attempted to sign Costa in the summer of 2013, as well as Chelsea winger Willian. The Reds have also missed out on the likes of Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Alexis Sanchez, Loic Remy, Mohamed Salah and Yevhen Konoplyanka during Rodgers time in charge.
And the Northern Irishman admits work must be done to ensure the Reds are able to bring their first choice targets to Anfield.
“We need to be better in the final third with that creativity and the ability to score goals important for us,” he said. “We have signed talented young players and I’m sure over the time – whether that’s with me here or not – they will show that they are very good players.
“We know what targets we wanted and what was out there, but for one reason or another they are not here and gone elsewhere. We work with what we’ve got and look to improve what we’ve got and get back to somewhere near the level we’ve shown over the last 18 months.
“We were in a great position at the end of last season, with Champions League football and a way of working, but we just have to work harder and smarter to convince these players to come,” he continued.
“As I said the club has done everything it could over the course of the summer to get the players who are going to improve us.
“But players look for more than just football terms. They look at where they want to live, they look at all these social factors and that’s something we can’t control. If someone gets offered say more money to come here but they want to go elsewhere, they want to go to London, there’s not much you can do.
“I think the club have shown their hand in terms of they will be prepared to pay the wages of top players, but whether they want to come here is a different matter.
“I think it’s where we’re at.
“We need to work harder and smarter again.
“We have brought in a raft of players who can hopefully develop and mould into a way of working and be better in the future.”
It look so suspiciously like we simply do not offer the contract value to any of the top targets. I suggest that other teams offer much more money and incentive to then that we do. It is well known the the American outfit are not forthcoming with really lucrative offers to the top men hence why do they go elsewhere? Suspicious? I’d say so.,..
Brendan may actually not be at fault. I agree that players ” look for more than just football terms. ” This is a reality or more of a sad reality depending in which angle we focus on it. So its the job of the owners to do their best to get them that comfort and not Brendan’s Otherwise we’ll have to believe that all those identified players wanted London and Manchester only. Liverpool is a nice place to live in isn’t it??? ask Torres, ask Xabi Allonso, ask Pepe Reina, ask Rafa…
Ivanovic = £9.7m
Cahill = £7m
Azpilicueta = £7m
Courtois = £5m
Lovren = £20m
Sakho = £18m
Mignolet = £10m
Don’t piss me off Brendan.
I thought we turned Remy down. Costa and sanchez are obviously the big misses. But the first year in the champs league does not change things that much. You have to be in it for a couple of years to prove yourself first then we can judge the Rodgers effect or maybe the lack of real ambition of the owners.
The only player this argument holds water with is Sanchez, who under pressure from his wife went to a London club [similar to Suarez’ wife wanting to go to Spain], but otherwise it is rubbish. The Manchester teams have no problem attracting top talent, and who wants to live in Manchester?!! I believe the main problem is 1) LFG have put in place strong restraints about salaries etc. 2) Aires is rubbish at persuasion and 3) Rogers has no international reputation.
We did turn Remy down Andy, for supposed heart problems. Watching him run up and down the field does not look like someone with a heart condition. The argument that Rodgers does not have any international reputation does not really hold much substance with me. He was the one that identified the targets, too much emphasis being placed on midfield instead of defense and of course up front, highlighted by the “panic-buy” Balotelli. As for players choosing elsewhere, that unfortunately is the world today and after all is the players choice. If he chooses to pick location over team, there is nothing that really Liverpool can do about that.