Will Liverpool’s quiet transfer window see them fall behind their Premier League rivals?

The summer transfer window has finally slammed shut, and teams across Europe are now stuck with what they’ve got at their disposal between now and January. As always, some fans will be much happier with their club’s business than others, and Liverpool supporters are a bunch in particular that have been left seething, due to a real lack of incoming transfers to enhance their chances of regaining the Premier League title.

The teams around them, the likes of Chelsea, Manchester City and Manchester United, have all strengthened their core squads, especially the latter, who have brought in three major signings in the form of Cristiano Ronaldo, Jadon Sancho and Raphaël Varane, whilst the west London side and City have splashed out on Romelu Lukaku and Jack Grealish respectively, who both cost around £100m.

However, the only new face at Anfield this season is Ibrahima Konaté, who the Reds bought from RB Leipzig for £36 million back in May, and with Virgil van Dijk, Joe Gomez and Joël Matip ahead of him in the central defender pecking order, the 22-year-old isn’t exactly going to do anything major in order to help bolster Liverpool’s chances in the Premier League winner odds from Betfair.

Unfortunately for Liverpool fans, it’s no real surprise that Fenway Sports Group didn’t loosen their purse strings more this summer. After forking out almost £320m across the course of the 2017-18 and 2018-19 windows, acquiring key figures like Mohamed Salah, Andy Robertson, Alisson, van Dijk, Naby Keïta and Fabinho — all of whom played key roles in helped the Reds win their sixth Champions League and their first Premier League title in 30 years — John Henry and co. have remained somewhat tight fisted.

While the wealth of those aforementioned players still make Liverpool a side to be feared in the Premier League title race, depth is a real worry for Jürgen Klopp’s side, and another injury crisis like the one they suffered last season could see their season spiral out of control again.

Georginio Wijnaldum joined Paris Saint-Germain on a free transfer, with Liverpool not recruiting a suitable replacement, whilst Divock Origi is far from the standard required in attack, and he will now be their back-up striker on the bench with Roberto Firmino picking up a hamstring injury, whilst he will also likely be called up when Sadio Mané and Salah jet off for the African Cup of Nations in January — where Klopp will be praying that his star players do not pick up any injuries.

Of course, there are plenty of positives to take away from Liverpool’s window as well, even if it isn’t the fresh faces the passionate Anfield following were screaming out for. Robertson, Trent Alexander-Arnold, Fabinho, Alisson and Jordan Henderson have all committed their futures to the club, and while contract extensions in the red half of Merseyside became somewhat of joke amongst other fanbases as the window wore thin on time, keeping those players for the foreseeable future is just as valuable for Liverpool as new signings.

Then again, spending millions isn’t always the solution to a club’s problems, and doesn’t always make you more favourable in the Premier League betting tips. Just look at Arsenal, they are bottom of the league without a point or a goal after three games, and the Gunners were this summer’s biggest spenders, with almost £150m disbursed on the likes of Ben White, Martin Ødegaard and Aaron Ramsdale!

At the end of the day, you can’t spend what you don’t have, and stadium expansions and new state-of-the-art training facilities don’t come cheap. With the £110m spent on those two things, and Liverpool’s huge wage bill, which has grown massively over the last five years so, it’s no surprise that cash is hard to come by.

If he has a fully fit squad at his disposal, Klopp should have no issues competing with Liverpool’s old foes this season, and whilst they most likely won’t win the Premier League title, it would be a real surprise if they aren’t occupying one of the English top flight’s sought-after four Champions League spots come the end of the season next May.