The former Reds defender believes those on the fringes of the fold at Anfield can be offloaded before a Bayern Munich midfielder is acquired
Liverpool can fund a move for Thiago Alcantara by offloading a number of fringe players, claims Stephen Warnock, with the Reds urged to keep Georginio Wijnaldum on their books.
It has been suggested that a revolving transfer door at Anfield could see one midfielder replace another before the next deadline passes.
Netherlands international Wijnaldum is seeing a move mooted to join fellow Dutchman Ronald Koeman at Barcelona.
Jurgen Klopp is reluctant to be drawn on said speculation, and has also steered around rumours of a raid being launched on Bayern Munich for Thiago.
The Spain international is, however, considered to be a top target for the Premier League champions.
Funds are in short supply on Merseyside, with little business completed so far, but sales could allow the Reds to invest elsewhere.
Warnock believes deals can be done that allow both Thiago and Wijnaldum to form part of Liverpool’s plans in 2020-21, with the former Reds defender telling Stadium Astro: “There’s a lot of talk around Merseyside that Wijnaldum has to go for the deal to happen. I don’t think that’s necessarily the case.
“I think the likes of Harry Wilson, Marko Grujic, Rhian Brewster – if these fringe players leave and they raise enough money for the £30m that Bayern Munich are after, I think they’d more than happily keep Wijnaldum.
“I think when you think of adding to that midfield position, Liverpool’s midfield has to be dynamic every single game, they have to play at 100 per cent.
“I think it’s something that Jurgen Klopp has looked at and decided that he needs to be able to rotate in that midfield position more often because of the amount of games that they had last year.
“They have to be able to maintain that at a higher level to retain the title this season. So in an ideal world for Jurgen Klopp, he buys Thiago and he also keeps Wijnaldum as well.
“Harry Wilson’s been out on loan now a couple of times, had a good loan spell at Derby, did well at Bournemouth, he’s been talked about going to maybe Aston Villa or Newcastle, there’ve been clubs that are interested in him.
“Rhian Brewster, again not in the squad, not involved, but the opportunity to go and play first-team football, Sheffield United apparently interested in him, maybe one or two others later in the window.
“If you can raise the cash from the fringe players that aren’t necessarily going to improve your team, whereas Wijnaldum is a starter for Liverpool.
“He’s your sort of go-to guy in the big games, he always wants to play him in the big games, he knows how reliable he is.
“Would you rather sell him or would you rather sell the players that are going out on loan and raise the funds from that?
“So I think if Jurgen Klopp has the option, he raises the funds from selling two, three players of the fringe.”
Liverpool, along with their Premier League rivals, have until October 5 to get any transfer business done and ensure that they have the required depth in their squad to compete for major honours on multiple fronts.
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