3 lessons Liverpool can learn from Spurs’ blundered £80m blueprint

The Reds’ title chances were already on the drift following Luis Suarez’s four-month ban and it’s likely the 15/2 currently on offer will swell further should the number seven head to Barcelona for £80m, as expected.

Should Liverpool spend their incoming bounty wisely though, there’s every chance another run at the Premier League trophy could unfold.

Luckily there’s already been a largely unsuccessful attempt to replace a star player with £80m in the Premier League, when Spurs attempted to fill a Gareth Bale-sized hole last season.

Here’s the lessons they can learn:

Quality over quantity

Tottenham took the view that they’d be better off spreading their cash across several acquisitions, rather than offering mega bucks for any one particular superstar that could match Bale’s quality.

That strategy failed quite spectacularly as the White Hart Lane club flooded their squad with the likes of Paulinho, Christian Eriksen and wingers aplenty and took an age to find their best XI as a result.

If Liverpool can acquire as close a like-for-like replacement to Suarez as possible, Alexis Sanchez for example, then they’d be far better off than buying five or six men that will take time to adapt.

Ensure areas of need are strengthened

The other huge failure of Spurs’ attempts to replace Bale was their apparent ignorance over which positions needed replenishing.

With Kyle Naughton and Danny Rose making up two of their full-back compliment, they could have quite easily purchased quality alternatives but instead bought three midfielder and three forwards.

Liverpool also need a full-back with some urgency and should focus on that most intently once a Suarez replacement has been procured.

Don’t expect the same results without Suarez

It was a rather large elephant in the room for a while, but eventually Spurs acknowledged that without their best player, they just weren’t able to compete to the same level.

So long as Liverpool adjust their expectations in accordance with their leading striker leaving, they’ll be fine. If they don’t, a bitter campaign awaits.

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