Carragher: Liverpool's POOR squad management is a major reason for struggles

Jamie Carragher has criticised Liverpool's squad management and claimed their recent transfer business has contributed to the club's struggles this season.

The Reds have enjoyed a memorable seven-and-a-half-years since Jurgen Klopp arrived in October 2015, winning pretty much everything on offer.

They narrowly missed out on two further Premier League titles while they also lost in two Champions League finals to Real Madrid during that time.

However, they have struggled dramatically this season and - despite almost pulling off a remarkable quadruple last season - Liverpool find themselves 11 points off the top four.

In January they bought in PSV forward Cody Gakpo for £44m, but many were critical that they didn't add a top quality option in midfield - a position they have been woefully exposed in in three successive heavy away defeats to Brentford, Brighton and Wolves.

And Carragher believes that several transfer mistakes over recent years has left Klopp with a limited amount of players who are in the peak of their careers.

'Liverpool have either got really young players or really old players,' Carragher told The Overlap.

'They haven’t got anyone in that sweet spot of sort of 25 to 29 and you have to put that to Jurgen Klopp or Pep Lijnders, the recruitment team who have had more praise than any recruitment team I have seen in my life.

'People criticise the owners in terms of money, I think the owners have done a brilliant job at the club.

'The biggest mistake FSG have made I feel is, whether they can control it or not, they have allowed this team that everybody in the Premier League around Europe is saying ‘that’s the model to follow’, they have allowed that to disintegrate.'

The Liverpool legend also admitted his concerns at the upheaval at Anfield, with owners FSG putting the club up for sale last year, while several key figures in the recruitment department have left the club over recent times.

Highly-regarded sporting director Michael Edwards departed last summer and his replacement Julian Ward announced he will leave at the end of the current season.

Meanwhile, the influential Head of Data, Ian Graham, also announced back in November that he would be leaving and Carragher insisted this has contributed to their dramatic dip in form this season.

He added: 'Four or five people behind the scenes who are known as being a huge part of Liverpool recruitment and selling-wise have been allowed to leave.

'We don’t know who has replaced them, we don’t know if that’s Jurgen Klopp in the job for longer and I have been there with [Gerard] Houllier and Rafa Benitez, the longer they are in the job, the more power they get.

'What everybody felt was a really top team that most people would look to emulate, they have been allowed to drift apart.'

Carragher also highlighted Jordan Henderson as an example of someone who has suffered due the club's poor decisions in the transfer market, insisting the midfielder doesn't deserve some of the criticism he has received.

He explained: 'I think there has been a mismanagement of the squad and I go back to Jordan Henderson. Jordan Henderson has taken a lot of stick off Liverpool supporters at the moment, Jordan Henderson has done his job.

'He came at 21, he’s 31 and he has won everything. He shouldn’t be playing every week right now anyway and that’s because of the mismanagement of the squad.

'He shouldn’t be playing week in, week out where he is right now at sort of 32, 33. He is having to play there because of the mismanagement of the squad.'

Liverpool are back in action on Monday when they host Everton in a Merseyside derby clash.