Klopp warned Liverpool face 'dangerous moment' despite Gravenberch signing
Kop legend Graeme Souness helped to raise £1.5 million for charity by swimming the English Channel at 70 this summer.
And if Liverpool catch the tide, they could surf the euphoria of 10 men's heist at Newcastle into the swell of the title race. Jurgen Klopp was mugged – twice – by Chelsea as he missed out on Moises Caicedo and Romeo Lavia in the £170 million midfield makeover at Anfield.
But even with Ryan Gravenberch on the way from Bayern Munich, Souness warned: “This is a dangerous moment for Liverpool.” With Saudi champions Al Ittihad lining up an eye-watering £200 million bid and nine-figure salary package for Mo Salah, the poster boy of football in the Arab-speaking world, money will talk loudest.
You can't replace 187 goals in six years – Salah's contribution to the Liver bird's nest – at the drop of a hat. And with more than a fortnight of the Saudi transfer window to go, Souness fears Liverpool are swimming against the tide. And he knows exactly how that goes.
“If Salah was to go - and as an Egyptian he may be tempted to go back to the Middle East, where the rewards on offer are enormous – to lose 20-plus goals out of the team would be irreplaceable at this time,” he said.
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“If Liverpool were to treasure whatever they got for Salah, wherever they went to buy a player, there would be an enormous premium to pay, so it's a dangerous time in that respect.
“And if Salah were to leave, someone has to step up – will it be Diogo Jota or Darwin Nunez? Somebody has to come up with the goals Salah has scored every year.
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Graeme Souness is concerned about the make-up of Liverpool's squad (Humphrey Nemar)“Liverpool are owned by hard-nosed American businessmen who will be wondering whether to cash in now, or do we get another year out of him - and will we get the same offer next year?”
And it's not just the Salah conundrum troubling Souness. In his seven years as the raging heartbeat of Liverpool's midfield, he won three European Cups, five titles and four League Cups in an era when Kop managers did their shopping when the team was at its peak.
Klopp's wholesale refit in midfield is now complete – but should it have started after his near-miss with the Quadruple last year?
Souness, speaking to promote Sky Bet's Real Football Number Ones campaign for grass-roots heroes, said: “I like (Dominik) Szoboszlai, I'm a big fan of (Alexis) Mac Allister and (Wataru) Endo? We'll have to wait and see.
“Good reviews in the Bundesliga doesn't mean you'll be a success in the Premier League, where the intensity is more demanding than anywhere else. I think the fact that they offered a hundred million quid for Caicedo shows they see that as a key area that needs strengthening.
“For they money they paid, it suggests they see Endo as a squad player. He's not going to come in and make the difference.”
Ryan Gravenberch became Liverpool's third summer signing (Getty Images)Souness joined the Anfield payroll in the season after Bob Paisley had won the first of his three European Cups, along with Kenny Dalglish and Alan Hansen - £900,000 worth of holy trinity.
Liverpool transfer window winners & losers as £37m spent on Klopp's "great day"
It underlines his point about improving the squad when the club is peaking, not when the waves have broken.
He said: “The time to strengthen is when you're at the top. You can bring in players who don't have to make an impact right away. Kenny (Dalglish) and I were the first two players to join Liverpool at that time, and for a decade before that, who went straight in the team and stayed there.
“People like Ray Kennedy, a star, and Terry McDermott, a star, came to Anfield and had to learn the Liverpool way, but that was the perfect scenario. You had the best group, and you just added to it when you were not buying under pressure.
“Last August I said Liverpool needed to strengthen in midfield, and they didn't. When you looked at their ages, it wasn't rocket science that James Milner, Jordan Henderson and Fabinho were all at a stage where you should have been monitoring it very closely.”
After their perfect burglary on Tyneside, the rip tides are not going to get any easier for Liverpool this weekend, with skipper Virgil van Dijk suspended for the visit of resurgent Aston Villa.
It's the sort of contest Souness, bristling as ever, would have relished in his pomp.
“Not an easy game, by any stretch – but I have to say Liverpool were fabulous at Newcastle,” he said.
“The way they regrouped when Van Dijk went off, weathered the storm, started to get a bit more of the ball, made two chances for Nunez and he put them both away... that was a real smash and grab. Really impressive.”
Graeme Souness was speaking as one of the judges for Sky Bet’s Real Football Number Ones campaign, looking for the heroes who aren’t always on the pitch, but are constantly making a difference to the beautiful game.
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