Carragher: Liverpool must spend again in January after £400m spree

Liverpool must turn to the transfer market in January to save their season despite already spending over £400m since their Premier League title win, says Jamie Carragher.

Liverpool emerge from the international break eight points adrift of Premier League leaders Arsenal, having suffered a chastening 3-0 defeat at Manchester City last time out.

They have already lost more league games this season (five) than they did on their way to a 20th top-flight crown last term (four). 

The Reds' five defeats have all come in their last six games, having only lost five of their previous 49 matches before the start of their current run (33 wins, 11 draws).

This is also the latest point in a season at which they have been as low as eighth in the table since April 2023, despite splashing out £446m on the likes of Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike, Florian Wirtz, Jeremie Frimpong, Milos Kerkez and Giovani Leoni in the last transfer window.

But Carragher believes further reinforcements are needed in January, particularly at centre-back, after Leoni suffered a season-ending anterior cruciate ligament injury.

"Liverpool need to spend in January, they need to buy a centre-back, they should have bought a centre-back in the summer," he told a Sky Sports documentary, Inside: Liverpool. 

"They didn't, and then the one centre-back they did buy, Leoni, a young Italian player, looked fantastic in the game that he played, a Carabao Cup game. Unfortunately, he got an ACL injury, so we won't see him until next season.

"Liverpool are probably one injury at centre-back from really derailing their season, so they have to go to the market in January."

While Carragher believes the majority of Liverpool's outlay was justified, given the departures of Luis Diaz, Darwin Nunez and Harvey Elliott as well as the tragic death of Diogo Jota, he still questions why they bought two big-name strikers in Isak and Ekitike.

"Spending the big money on Isak and Ekitike, who were both playing in the same position, both in the same summer, that was a little one where I was scratching my head a little bit," he said.

"When you've spent that type of money, and it just becomes one or the other [to start]... 

It doesn't feel very Liverpool-like to me, certainly with the way we've conducted our transfer business in the last few years."

With Liverpool's title hopes already hanging by a thread, Carragher expects head coach Arne Slot to turn his attentions to the Champions League, following a return of nine points from their first four league-stage matches.

"I think Slot has a little obsession with the Champions League. He speaks about Paris Saint-Germain a lot, on the back of losing to them last season," Carragher said. 

"I almost feel like he thinks that's our next step. You can feel he desperately wants it, as all top managers do. 

"But when you're the manager of Liverpool, the club is synonymous with the Champions League, so we have to go close."

Liverpool host Nottingham Forest in the Premier League on Saturday, before returning to Champions League action against PSV four days later.