Jamie Carragher issues direct transfer message to Liverpool and Jurgen Klopp after Newcastle United win

Former Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher has urged the Reds to strengthen their squad with a new defender and midfielder before the transfer window closes on Friday.

The Reds have picked up seven points from a possible nine to start the Premier League season after Darwin Nunez’s late double produced a stunning comeback for the 10 men at Newcastle United.

Alexis Mac Allister, Dominik Szoboslai and Wataru Endo have joined the club this summer but the Reds have seen a large number of players depart.

Speaking on Sky Sports after Sunday’s victory, Carragher said: “Liverpool have been Manchester City’s biggest rivals for the last four or five years, and Arsenal came to the fore last season. But why can’t Liverpool be that team again this season?

“The squad that Liverpool have right now isn’t good enough to challenge Manchester City, but they’ve got to go for it in the transfer market this week in terms of bringing in another defender and midfielder. That has to happen because Liverpool can still be the biggest rivals to Manchester City.

“They’ve made a decent start to the season, but when you’ve got someone like Alisson - a world-class goalkeeper, maybe the best goalkeeper in the world - Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah, these are players who are not coming to the end of their careers but are at that stage where if Liverpool are going to go on to do something big again, it has to happen in the next year or two.

“So really go for it in the last week of the transfer window to get a squad that is good enough to challenge Manchester City.”

Jurgen Klopp was asked about the possibility of adding to his options at centre back before the window shuts after Ibrahima Konaté was ruled out of the trip to Newcastle United.

Asked if Liverpool planned to bolster at centre back, Klopp said on Friday: “In this room it is always like, ‘We could do this, we could do that, don’t you think we can do that...’ Maybe one day you sit a day in my chair and you have to deal with all the other stuff as well.

“In an ideal world we have six, seven, eight centre-halves and cover for absolutely everything. No, we need to be lucky with injuries, there is no doubt about that. I have no doubt about the quality of the boys we have. We have with Jarell Quansah, a super-talented player as well here available.

“So, in this moment we are covered but it is not dreamland where you can be prepared for absolutely each situation. We had to learn that in the past as well a couple of times. We will try to do our absolute best to have a squad for next week, a squad for us where we can react on pretty much everything. Is that possible? We will see.”

Quansah made his senior debut against Newcastle as he came on in the 77th minute. Konate is unlikely to feature against Aston Villa with the defender expected to be fit after the international break.