Liverpool legend Robbie Fowler believes a lack of attacking input from midfield has cost the Reds this season - with such disappointing numbers proving it is the correct decision to abandon their pursuit of Jude Bellingham.
Earlier this week, the news emerged that the Reds would quit their summer hunt for the Borussia Dortmund and England sensation in favour of a more rounded approach to their highly-anticipated midfield rebuild.
As reported by the ECHO, Dortmund are understood to have valued the 19-year-old in the region of £130m, with add-ons, player wages and agents' fees set to have increased that price further.
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Not disclosing how much money he would have to work with to reconstruct a second, great Liverpool dynasty this summer, manager Jurgen Klopp defended the club's decision on Friday morning saying: "You have to work with what you have."
After a week of such significant developments on the transfer front, Fowler, writing in his weekly column in the Mirror, admitted he never expected his boyhood club to secure Bellingham's signature this summer and claimed that the addition of Englishman alone would not be enough to solve all of the Reds' glaring midfield woes.
"I won’t say ‘I told you so’, but Liverpool have finally caught up with my recent column suggesting it’s madness to spend their entire transfer budget on one player," wrote Fowler. "Ok, I will say that…but I take little satisfaction in pointing it out. The fact is, they have a glaring weakness in their team, and that can’t be fixed by signing Jude Bellingham on his own.
"I have a question for you. What is Liverpool’s first choice midfield? Even after a shocking season, it’s probably Henderson-Thiago-Fabinho. Second question: how many goals have they scored between them? The answer is a big fat zero. Yep, you read that right. No goals from a midfield trio that so very nearly wrote history. In any competition. So far, they have made a combined 99 appearances so far, and not a single goal.
"It gets worse. In all those appearances, they have three assists between them, two for Henderson and one from Thiago. And that is where the disaster of this season stems from.
"You look at the Premier League table, and for all the criticism of Liverpool’s defence, they still have the fifth best record, better than Manchester United and Tottenham, and not much different to City and Arsenal."
He added: "Yet goals are a massive problem - despite Mo Salah having another inconsistent season. Nunez has done okayish, they’ve been without Diaz and Jota for long periods, and Gakpo, well, not great but he’s new."From midfield though, it’s nothing. Keita hasn’t scored either, neither has Jones or Milner; Oxlade-Chamberlain and Bajcetic have one apiece. That’s two goals from seven midfielders. Only Harvey Elliott has a half-respectable total.
"It’s the same with assists, seven from 11 midfielders used this season. Compare that to Manchester City, and you see the problem. 35 goals from midfield, 40 assists."
Ahead of Monday night's trip to Leeds United, Liverpool sit eighth in the Premier League and a sobering 12 points adrift of Manchester United, who currently occupy the fourth and final Champions League qualification place. It means for the first time since 2016-17, next season looks likely to be a campaign where the Reds will miss out on the lucrative riches of the Champions League.
Not only has such a below-par domestic campaign highlighted the need for further midfield reinforcement but without the riches of Europe's premier competition Klopp has been forced to reevaluate the spread of the club's budget.
The ECHO understands that Chelsea duo Mason Mount and Conor Gallagher are both being watched closely by those at Anfield. Meanwhile, the Times claimed on Saturday night Liverpool officials have "stepped up" their pursuit of 21-year-old Bayern Munich midfielder Ryan Gravenberch.
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