Leicester City manager Brendan Rodgers feels that Liverpool spending more money lately has totally changed the club’s dynamic and has made them even stronger.
Rodgers came very close to winning the league title with Liverpool in the 2013-14 season. However, Liverpool eventually came 2nd, two points behind Manchester City.
Not long back, Luis Suarez said that Liverpool winning the league in the 2013-14 season would have been a bigger achievement than them winning the league this season since the club did not have the same strength of squad and finance as they have now.
And Rodgers has agreed with Suarez’s statements. The Scotsman said, “I think you can’t really compare. I was there at a time when everything was based on potential. Raheem [Sterling] was 17, Philippe [Coutinho] was 19, we had loan players. I think what Liverpool have done really well in the last couple of seasons is recognise if there’s a gap to be filled in the squad and you really need it, you’ve got to pay for that quality. In my time there, and Jürgen’s early time, the talk was about defence. What do you do? Bang, put in a world-class £75m player and a world-class goalkeeper and it changes the whole dynamic.
So, what Luis is referring to is, at that time, that never happened. That’s just strategy, how it was. At that time at Liverpool when I went in there, over £30m had to come off the playing budget. When I arrived we were eighth and losing players like [Alberto] Aquilani and Maxi Rodríguez, who was a top-class player, because the strategy was to bring through a younger team and try to evolve it from there. We had Luis, who was fantastic, some other young players, and were bringing players in like Aly Cissokho on loan. So it’s totally different. Our journey in those couple of years was great. If you look at it now it’s about investment and they’re doing very, very well.”
Liverpool’s recent performances have indeed come because of a strong squad for which the club had to pay a huge chunk of money. The likes of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, Virgil van Dijk and Alisson have cost the club around £250 million and all players have played a major role in putting Liverpool in the position they are this season.
Liverpool are currently a point behind Manchester City and they need City to lose points if they are to stand a chance of winning the league this season. Manchester City’s next match is against Rodgers’ Leicester City on Monday.
Rodgers’ side will have a strong task in defying the likes of Sergio Aguero, Bernardo Silva and of course, Raheem Sterling. Sterling developed as a talented youngster under Rodgers at Liverpool and has now become one of the best footballers in the world.
Speaking of Sterling, Rodgers said, “What I loved about Raheem was that for a young boy he knew what he wanted to be.
When I ask young players what is it they want to achieve, he wanted to be one of the best players in the world – at that age [17]. And that was where he was unique, because sometimes the British players may not have that ambition.
Off the pitch he’s an incredible kid. He’s very loving and supportive of his family. You see a lot of the things that he does, and that’s not just now – that’s how he was back then as a young boy. He had a great base at Liverpool and then went on. He’s taken his game to a level where he’s clearly one of the best players in the world. He’s a great talent and a great father as well – he would bring his daughter around to the house to play. So he’s a really special player and a really great boy.”
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