Liverpool need to forget Lemar and invest Coutinho money elsewhere

After selling Coutinho for £142 million, Liverpool would be wise to invest the money on their defense instead of splashing out on another attacker.

Liverpool’s Coutinho has moved to Barcelona for a massive £142 million and many are expecting them to replace the Brazilian playmaker with Monaco’s Thomas Lemar. It is a move that makes sense, Liverpool were linked with a move for the Frenchman last summer and he is a player that can fill in the role that will be left behind by Coutinho along with being capable of playing on the wing should he need too.

Of course, this won’t be easy for Liverpool as Monaco are insistent that the player will not be moving clubs this window but it is similar to when Liverpool proclaimed that Coutinho would not be sold in the winter transfer window. Liverpool bidding a good chunk of the money that they have received for Coutinho might be enough to tempt Monaco into selling.

But Liverpool don’t need to do this, at least not now. It might be tempting to replace one star creative player with another, but Liverpool do not need another attacker. They will be weakened without Coutinho for this season and the move does put a hamper on their hopes for top four slightly but it should be remembered that Adam Lallana is returning from injury, who can slip right into Coutinho’s position along with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain also coming into very good form and all of a sudden, it doesn’t appear that Liverpool need to buy Thomas Lemar, at least not yet.

Liverpool are in the unique situation where they have money, and plenty of it. It will be tough for them to invest all of that given every club will know how much they have and will try to get as much possible out of them. But if Liverpool are going to invest the Coutinho money, it would be much more wise to invest into the team as a whole rather than on one individual player. This would Liverpool’s best opportunity to improve the glaring weaknesses of their team that they have up until this month really failed to address; their defence.

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Liverpool’s defence has always been a major weakness in their team, going all the way back to when Brendan Rodgers was in charge at the club, it’s an area where they have struggled to fix for years. There has been an attempt this month with the club breaking the world record fee for a central defender in Virgil Van Dijk in a £75 million move from Southampton.

There’s no doubt that Van Dijk will improve the defence, he’s a very good defender and better than any defender they already had but he is also only one man, who cannot be expected to fix all of their problems by himself. This is Liverpool’s opportunity to improve in the biggest position that needs fixing which is the goalkeeper position – they simply do not have a goalkeeper who is good enough for a team that ultimately aspires for more than just competing for a top four spot.

Liverpool desperately need to upgrade on Simon Mignolet, he’s showed for years now that he isn’t good enough for the level that Liverpool are hoping to get too and he needs to be replaced. They also need another centre back to partner Van Dijk along with a suitable holding midfielder to shore up the defence. If Liverpool are able to acquire all three of these players, it would improve the club tenfold as opposed to just making one massive purchase to improve a position that isn’t overly needed.

Liverpool’s front three are already incredibly dangerous and Liverpool did perfectly fine at the start of the season without Coutinho. It’s their defence, or their lack of one, that has repeatedly cost them for years even pre-dating Jurgen Klopp and his failure to do so has been the result of much criticism for him during his tenure at Liverpool.

Liverpool can always eventually go back for Lemar. They will have the money to do so, the money that clubs receive from broadcasting rights guarantees that. But for now, Liverpool need to invest that Coutinho money into other areas of the squad, Liverpool have done well under Klopp with a fantastic deadly attack but they will never progress past their current level if they do not improve on the defensive aspect of their team.