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Liverpool can challenge for Premier League titles again but only if they back Jurgen Klopp in the transfer market, says former Reds defender Kolo Toure.
Since arriving at Anfield in 2015, Klopp’s Liverpool have been hugely competitive both domestically and in Europe, winning the Premier League and Champions League while finishing runners-up in those competitions a combined four times.
But this season has been a far cry from those past successes, with Liverpool fighting to finish in the European places rather than competing for the Premier League title and crashing out of the Champions League at the round-of-16 stage.
The Reds splashed out over £100million on forwards Darwin Nunez and Cody Gakpo this season, but Toure believes Klopp must be provided with further spending power to freshen up the squad and get Liverpool back in silverware contention.
Speaking to Stats Perform, Toure said: “They have to look for somebody who has legs again and refresh the team, refresh the squad a little bit, bring in players who have the right mentality.
“They can go again because they have a top manager with them having Jurgen [Klopp], and [they have to] keep him there and make sure they sign the right players for him, then they will bounce again and go and fight for the Premier League, definitely.”
Gakpo and Nunez have combined for just 15 Premier League goals this term as Liverpool have failed to keep up with title challengers Manchester City and Arsenal.
Toure feels the pair must do more to fit into Klopp’s style of play, saying: “It’s been a tough campaign for Liverpool, definitely, but every team goes in a cycle. When you sign players, sometimes they fit, sometimes they don’t fit because of whatever reason, you don’t know.
“He’s signed a few players right now, [Cody] Gakpo and the other striker, [Darwin] Nunez and it’s up to them to make sure they can fit in the team. Jurgen is such an incredible manager, he knows how he wants his team to play. But, when you sign players you expect them to fit in your team.
“At the moment, those players have to show that, they have to show more for the team. They haven’t done that this season so well. Gakpo needed time to adapt, but he is looking to have the right chemistry in the team, and bringing in new players to refresh the team, to make sure the team can go again. This season will be a transition for them, but next season they’re going to be better, definitely.”
Liverpool’s failure to live up to their past glories under Klopp has seen his job questioned by some, with the German himself saying last month his previous successes were the only reason he had not been sacked.
But Toure, who played under Klopp for one season at Anfield, says the former Borussia Dortmund coach still has more to extract from these players.
“In his time it feels like he has squeezed the team, it feels like he has taken everything out of the team, and it feels like he can’t do any more – he would say that,” Toure added.
“At the moment, he knows he can still up that team, and that’s what he’s tried to do. He can help them.
“I think Jurgen is such an intelligent manager and if he feels he has squeezed the team to the maximum, he will just feel it and say definitely. For me, I still feel like this Liverpool team don’t need a lot to come back to the top of the league there with the other [teams].”
