Liverpool

Rather than sitting tight until 2023, you could make a strong case for Liverpool needing to sign one midfielder now and another in a year.

Elliott’s role should continue to grow as the season evolves but it would be wrong to expect too much from a teenager who is still learning that role. The bar will get raised collectively but that heavily depleted midfield department is a growing cause for concern. However, the changes Klopp made in midfield were also key to triggering that second-half improvement as Harvey Elliott and James Milner both impressed. Henderson’s passing accuracy was just 74 per cent (66 per cent in the opponents’ half), while Thiago won a third of his nine duels. Liverpool held a strong interest in Monaco midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni earlier this year but always feared that Real Madrid would win that race and so it proved. “A transfer must make sense now and in the long term,” said Klopp post-game at Craven Cottage. “We still have enough midfielders. He’s facing another lay-off — the latest in a long line of agonising setbacks that have hampered the Spain international’s time at Liverpool. That meant that, as Liverpool twice came from behind in the second half to avoid an embarrassing defeat against promoted Fulham, they were without four of their eight senior midfielders. The manager went on to eulogise the array of talent already at his disposal. Yes, they’ve been dogged by some cruel misfortune but it wasn’t entirely unpredictable, especially given the amount of football Thiago, Keita and Oxlade-Chamberlain have previously missed. “The last thing that would have crossed my mind is that we have to do this. It was cranked up another level after Thiago limped off early in the second half at Craven Cottage on Saturday, clutching his left hamstring.