Scouting 3 Potential Summer Transfer Targets for Liverpool

Liverpool's summer transfer activity has begun with the confirmed arrivals of out-of-contract trio James Milner, Danny Ings and Adam Bogdan, leaving supporters hoping there will be plenty of money saved for signings as the summer progresses.

The pessimist may draw parallels with Liverpool's situation so far and that of 2010, months before Fenway Sports Group completed its purchase of the club. The Reds had a manager, Roy Hodgson, whom large amounts of the fanbase didn't want in charge; they signed an English midfielder, Joe Cole, on big wages as a Bosman free transfer; and they added further underwhelming signings in Paul Konchesky, Christian Poulsen and Milan Jovanovic (another freebie).

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Five years later, and the decision to keep Brendan Rodgers in charge has certainly divided the fanbase, with an Independent poll suggesting 87 percent of fans wanted him sacked. James Milner seems an astute signing—far better than Joe Cole was—but his reported wages of £150,000 per week, per the Guardian, make him one of the highest-paid players at the club.

Ings and Bogdan appear to be upgrades on Fabio Borini and Brad Jones, whom they will replace in the Reds squad. But neither is likely to set pulses racing among the fanbase just yet.

The jury, of course, is still out, and the hope is that Liverpool are making free signings now in order to allow the transfer funds to be spent on the areas the squad needs it most.

That primary area is undoubtedly a centre-forward—someone to come in and play either alongside Daniel Sturridge or instead of the Englishman when he's not fit.

Centre-Forward	1
Right-Back	2
Holding Midfielder	3

A quartet of Sturridge, a new signing, Ings and incoming loanee Divock Origi would provide Rodgers with a far superior set of forward options than he had at his disposal last season and should return an improvement on the 52 league goals scored in 2014/15.

Christian Benteke continues to be linked with a move to Merseyside, but concerns over whether he is suited to Liverpool's style of play persist. Even Benteke's current boss, Aston Villa manager Tim Sherwood recognises as such, last month saying: "We cross more balls into the box than any other club in the league and Christian has said that he feeds off crosses. There’s no point going to a club where they don’t cross the ball."

Liverpool are hardly famed for their crossing into the box under Rodgers—far from it. Rarely do they play crosses into the box, and it was for this exact reason that Rodgers quickly allowed Andy Carroll to leave the club shortly after he arrived at Anfield. It wasn't that Carroll was necessarily unwanted; he simply didn't suit the desired style of play.

"

By system I mean style of play, only Swansea attempted less crosses than Liverpool this season. Rarely play crosses from deep either.

— Tom McMahon (@TomMc_Sports) May 27, 2015"

It's difficult to believe that the signing of Benteke would signal a complete change around in Rodgers' philosophy and all of a sudden Liverpool would become a team with full-backs pinging crosses into the box for the big Belgian to profit from.

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Liverpool already made the mistake of signing one unsuited centre-forward last summer, Mario Balotelli, and to make a similar mistake again, especially at a higher price, would be bizarre to say the least. 

Another mistake Liverpool made last summer was to focus on signing players for the future, rather than players who can come in and immediately improve the team and push them to a higher level. Of the established players, players aged 24 or older at the time of signing—Balotelli, Dejan Lovren, Adam Lallana and Rickie Lambert—largely failed to impress in their first season at the club.

With money available to spend after acquiring the three aforementioned out-of-contract players, we pick three players who would come in and instantly improve Liverpool's starting XI. 

1. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang

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Position: Centre-forward
Age: 25
Current club: Borussia Dortmund
Potential fee: £25 million

One alternative to Benteke would be Borussia Dortmund forward Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, a player who has been tenuously linked to Liverpool in recent times by the Mirror (via Liverpool Echo) but whom the Reds do not appear to have concrete interest in at present.

The French-born Gabon forward would certainly suit Liverpool's style more than Benteke—and Balotelli. He is a versatile, mobile and pacey attacker.

Dortmund signed Aubameyang two years ago when they lost Mario Gotze to Bayern Munich, with sporting director Michael Zorc describing the new player as "offensively very versatile, has a lot of pace in his game, is a threat in front of goal and will provide us with more options."

Then-Dortmund boss Jurgen Klopp said: "His pace is incredible and he’s also technically strong, even though he hasn’t really had the chance to show much of it yet."

Pace. An attribute Liverpool desperately need in their attack after a lacklustre 2014/15.

"He’s integrated into the team nicely and he fits in well with everything regarding tactics and our style of play," added Klopp.

Dortmund's style of play, playing a high-pressing game, is the one Rodgers' Liverpool seek to play but failed to implement last season due to the lack of forwards with the ability to press.

Possessing a player of Aubameyang's pace would provide Philippe Coutinho with the player ahead of him to play through balls for and give opposition centre-backs concerns about Liverpool getting in behind. Too often last season defences were happy to sit back and watch Liverpool run out of ideas, lacking a forward presence.

While Aubameyang may not quite have the defensive side of his game refined, 29 goals in 52 starts and 13 substitute appearances over the last two years is a goalscoring contribution Liverpool could certainly use.

WhoScored.com player strengths and weaknesses: 

Strengths: Key passes, finishing

Weaknesses: Passing, defensive contribution

2. Nathaniel Clyne

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Position: Right-back
Age: 24
Current club: Southampton
Potential fee: £12 million

Next up is another position Liverpool must sign a player for this summer. With Glen Johnson leaving after his contract expired, the Reds have returning loanee Andre Wisdom and injured Jon Flanagan as their only right-back options at present.

A first-choice right-back is certainly required.

Liverpool had a £10 million bid for the Englishman turned down at the end of last month, according to BBC Sport, but could now face competition from Manchester United for his signature, as explained by Neil Jones in the Liverpool Echo.

If Liverpool do manage to get Clyne signed, he would be another solid acquisition in a position of need.

Clyne has two goals and eight assists in the last three Premier League seasons, which is exactly the same return as Johnson over the same period of time.

Where Clyne has taken the place of Johnson in the England team, he could now also replace him at Anfield.

WhoScored player strengths and weaknesses: 

Strengths: dribbling, tackling

Weaknesses: aerial duels

3. William Carvalho

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Position: Defensive midfielder
Age: 23
Current club: Sporting Lisbon
Potential fee: £25 million

And now to the position that will divide opinion on whether it needs strengthening. Some will claim Lucas Leiva is an adequate defensive midfield option; others see the logic in allowing the long-serving Brazilian to leave while his resale value remains high and bringing in a younger replacement to improve the position.

Sporting Lisbon's Portuguese midfielder William Carvalho would certainly fit the bill. Standing at 6'1", he would add much-needed physical presence and destructive abilities in midfield. Liverpool have lacked a player of such standing since Javier Mascherano left the club five years ago.

He's used to playing the anchor role in midfield within a 4-3-3 formation and has excellent passing qualities as well as strong defensive attributes. He's also tactically aware.

Carvalho could end up being Liverpool's version of Chelsea's Nemanja Matic.

Overall

These three players may prove difficult to acquire, but Liverpool must be ambitious and prepared to pay good money for quality additions who can immediately improve the first team.

This would be a speculative £62 million outlay. With an estimated £30 million at least in the kitty, Liverpool could achieve the other £40 million in sales of Balotelli, Borini, Lambert, Lucas and Joe Allen, plus forgotten men Iago Aspas, Luis Alberto and Sebastian Coates.

A lineup with Clyne, Carvalho and Aubameyang in it would give Liverpool a stronger chance of getting back among the Premier League's top four next season.