Why Alex Teixeira Is the Player Liverpool Will Regret Not Signing in January

Deciding which player Liverpool will regret not signing in January is a pretty straightforward task, with the club going five hours without a goal since their negotiations for Brazilian attacker Alex Teixeira came to an end.

Teixeira was the Reds' primary, and seemingly only, target in the January transfer window, with the club offering €32 million and a €4 million bonus, according to Shakhtar Donetsk's general director, Sergiy Palkin (h/t the Guardian's Artem Frankov).

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The Ukrainian club wanted €70 million (£53 million) for the 26-year-old, though.

Liverpool's decision not to pay over the odds for Teixeira is one that manager Jurgen Klopp says he fully supported.

Speaking to the Independent, Klopp explained:

"

We made offers - I won’t say too much about that but they were realistic, absolutely, with the pluses of it being January, the Premier League, all the pluses you have when you make negotiations with other clubs. But it was a case of "if you don’t want it, OK, we can’t change the situation, do what you want." You have to work respectfully and responsibly.

"

Liverpool were clearly keen to acquire the versatile attacker, who has 26 goals in 26 games in all competitions this season. Adding Teixeira would have helped to solve the Reds' goalscoring issues this season.

Goalscoring has been an issue for Liverpool since the departure of Luis Suarez to Barcelona and with Daniel Sturridge sidelined for much of the last 18 months.

Sitting with a goal difference of minus-four in February shows how poor Liverpool's scoring has been this season—they have the lowest goals-scored total of any side in the current top eight of the Premier League.

Speaking after the 2-0 defeat to Leicester City on Tuesday night, Klopp outlined the indecisiveness in front of goal that cost his side, via This is Anfield: "We had opportunities in the box but we didn’t find the right decision often enough. The longer the game was we didn’t get cooler, the decisions didn’t get better. We had the ball in their box and didn’t shoot. One second later Vardy shoots from 35 yards and the ball was in. This says most about the game."

While Liverpool hesitated at one end, Jamie Vardy was instinctively volleying past Simon Mignolet 30 seconds later at the other end. He has a killer instinct that Liverpool lack without Sturridge in the side.

With Roberto Firmino assisted by the non-goalscoring duo of James Milner and Adam Lallana—a duo that have just four goals in 39 combined appearances in the league this season—no wonder Liverpool looked toothless in attack.

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Christian Benteke had scored the winning goal in the corresponding fixture between the two sides at Anfield just over a month ago, but he has looked increasingly poor in recent weeks and failed to take his opportunity in cup games.

After drawing a blank over 120 minutes against Stoke City in the Capital One Cup semi-final second leg, and again against West Ham United in the FA Cup fourth round, Tuesday's defeat means it's five hours without a goal for Klopp's side—the last goal being Lallana's stoppage-time winner at Norwich City, which already seems like a long time ago.

Squad Needs

Not many Liverpool supporters would disagree that the club must now change their policy of signing young potential and instead focus on proven quality arrivals—players who can come in and immediately improve the first team, not players for the future.

This is clearly what they were seeking to do with Teixeira, looking to sign a player for the long term, not a short-term fix, and one who suits the desired style of play.

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For too long, Liverpool have signed players from mid-table Premier League clubs. The starting XI against Leicester had two players signed from Sunderland and three from Southampton. With the greatest respect, no wonder this XI is looking very mid-table. 

How Liverpool fans yearn for a spine akin to that of 2008/09, when Pepe Reina, Sami Hyypia, Xabi Alonso, Javier Mascherano, Steven Gerrard and Fernando Torres provided the backbone of the XI.

It's the spine that needs improving now, as this current squad looks spineless—frequently failing to rise to the occasion and regularly being comfortably outplayed, outmuscled and outthought by mid-table sides.

A new goalkeeper, a centre-back, a midfielder and a forward are needed.

However, Leicester themselves have shown that goals win games, and with a centre-back pairing of Wes Morgan and Robert Huth, you don't need a defence featuring legendary Italian defender Paolo Maldini to do well in the Premier League.

Liverpool themselves shunned defence and outscored teams when they came close to winning the title two seasons ago. Brendan Rodgers' side had Aly Cissokho, Glen Johnson and Jon Flanagan as full backs.

So while a new centre-back would help, it's not the biggest need for Liverpool right now; goals are.

Goals

The news that Sturridge has completed his first full training session this week since early December will give Liverpool hope that he can finally achieve fitness.

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But relying on Sturridge is where Liverpool have gone wrong consistently in the last two years.

Clearly Sturridge being available would transform the end to Liverpool's season, and there would be no bigger boost, but it simply cannot be relied upon any longer.

Signing Teixeira would have relieved the reliance on Sturridge and also relieved the burden on Philippe Coutinho—who is also due to return to training this week.

Coutinho has struggled with the expectation this season, and having his compatriot alongside him in attack would certainly have aided his personal game. The samba triumvirate of Teixeira-Coutinho-Firmino was indeed a mouthwatering one.

Alas, the latest reports suggest Teixeira could even head to China now this month, with Jiangsu Suning reportedly offering £35 million. Such a move wouldn't help Teixeira's chances of breaking into the Brazil squad ahead of the Copa America this summer, but you can imagine it being only a temporary move ahead of another big-money transfer this summer.

Liverpool were right not to overpay for Teixeira, but they will regret not having been able to acquire him.

That regret, though, could be forgotten should Sturridge somehow stay fit for the rest of the campaign.