Liverpool
have been urged to upgrade upon left-back Kostas Tsimikas following his poor performance in the Reds’ 3-1 defeat to
Chelsea
.
Having
wrapped up the Premier League title
the weekend prior,
Arne Slot
rung the changes for the trip down to Stamford Bridge.
At left-back, Tsimkas came in for Andy Robertson, but was the Greek international one of several players to turn in under-par performances as
Chelsea picked up a much-needed victory in front of their home fans.
Much has been made of Robertson’s long-term future in Liverpool’s starting eleven, with the 31-year-old set to go into his ninth year at Anfield next season.
But former Reds full-back Glen Johnson believes the need to upgrade in that position has only become more pressing after Tsimikas’ display on Sunday.
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‘The door looks open for Trent [Alexander-Arnold] to depart but that’s less of a problem with (Conor) Bradley coming through,’ Johnson told Premier League Productions when asked about Liverpool’s pending problems at full-back.
‘Even today, he came on, looked sharp and he was a threat – he almost created two chances in the first few minutes of coming on. So he could be a massive player for Liverpool.
‘Today, though, I thought Tsimikas really struggled – it wasn’t his best game. There were a lot of Liverpool players that were under par by their standards, but I definitely think they need to sort out the left-back side.’
Johnson continued: ‘You always have to stay in front of the game. They are champions and the best team in the league, but you can’t dwell on that.
‘They need to get some players in to improve them next season because you can’t rest on your laurels.’
Former Liverpool striker
Michael Owen
was in agreement, suggesting left-back is one of two areas that Liverpool should invest heavily in this summer.
‘Left-back I think Liverpool are going to invest,’ he said. ‘(Milos) Kerkez everyone is talking about from Bournemouth. That’s £50-60million they are going to invest.
‘If Darwin Nunez or Jota leaves you could argue they’ll get an attacker to replace them and you’ll have to spend decent money there. But that’s only two positions and then you just need cover.’
Arne Slot wants to see incomings this summer
Speaking after the defeat, Slot also conceded that his side needed some fresh faces if they were to sustain their title-winning levels of performance next campaign.
‘It’s already a big summer because we extended Virgil [van Dijk] and Mo [Salah] and for large parts of the season, I don’t think everyone expected that,’ the Dutchman said.
‘For us to keep them is a big thing. I’ve said already that I am happy with the squad we have.
‘We will see what the summer brings but sometimes it can be good to bring fresh energy.
‘It has already been a good summer and we won the league. Only if we see someone on the market who can improve us.’
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