Former Chelsea forward Tony Cascarino believes Liverpool should attempt to sign Manchester City midfielder Kalvin Phillips in the upcoming transfer window.
Liverpool are seeking to add midfield reinforcements in the summer but have cooled their interest in Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham after the Bundesliga club slapped a price tag in excess of £100m on the England international.
The ECHO understands Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool's recruitment team believe they would be better served spreading their budget on several signings rather than one big-money arrival.
Chelsea midfielder Mason Mount is emerging as one of the Red's top targets. His teammate Conor Gallagher is also a target as well as Matheus Nunes of Wolves and Ryan Gravenberch of Bayern Munich.
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Cascarino believes Liverpool should be looking at one of their rivals for an ideal midfield recruit with Phillips struggling at City since joining from Leeds United in the summer.
The 27-year-old has made just 15 appearances under Pep Guardiola and is yet to start a Premier League match this season.
"I love Jude Bellingham, I think he's a fantastic player, but I don't think he's necessary for Liverpool at the moment," Cascarino said.
"Jude is a fabulous talent and every club in Europe would want him, and Liverpool aren't in that ballpark. But I don't think he's necessary for Liverpool. I think there are more important types of players who need to come in before that luxury. The most important thing is to sign two players who can play, but their main job is to win the ball back – a bit like the Jordan Henderson type.
"I like Kalvin Phillips, he's not been used at Man City. I think Phillips is a fabulous ball-winner – we saw him enough at Leeds to know that..
"I think they've got to go back to their first port of call – make your team as hard to beat as they were before.
"They were brilliant in midfield with Henderson, Fabinho and Gini Wijnaldum. It's about rebuilding the backbone of the team, for me."
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