Liverpool’s four ‘missing’ midfielders – and how it could have been so different for Jurgen Klopp

It’s been Liverpool’s problem position for most of the season.

The Reds have squeezed out a superb 27 Premier League points from a possible 33 on offer so far to keep themselves in the hunt for a first league title in what will be 29 years in May.

Manchester City – for all their attacking splendour and defensive excellence – are yet to disappear out of Jurgen Klopp’s gaze as a result.

For now, City are firmly in sight and Liverpool even have the chance to leapfrog them on Sunday when they entertain the division’s leakiest defence in Fulham ahead of the Manchester derby.

For some, however, the glass remains half empty.

Much of the focus – and in some quarters, the ire – has centred around a midfield that is said to be lacking in spark and bereft of creativity.

Such accusations held up on Tuesday night as Liverpool laboured in Belgrade, shorn of the bewitching talents of Xherdan Shaqiri who was left on Merseyside after he made himself public enemy No.1 in Serbia for his politically-charged celebration for Switzerland at the World Cup.

Klopp on Henderson and Keita’s fitness

Liverpool’s midfield, for better or worse, is a new-look one to the options Klopp could call upon 12 months ago.

While the Reds manager was still able to count Philippe Coutinho and Emre Can as Liverpool players, Klopp also had a fit and firing Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain at his disposal, too.

And despite the summer arrivals of Fabinho and Naby Keita, the fact that Klopp was ready to sanction a near £50million deal for Nabil Fekir suggests he knew additional spark in the engine room might be needed over the course of a typically arduous and fixture-packed campaign.

For different reasons, Liverpool, at one time or another over the past 12 months, wanted all four to form part of the Reds’ midfield.

As such Klopp is not able to call on any of them as he attempts to rediscover the attacking verve that Liverpool made their trademark last season.

It could have been so different in the engine room.

Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain

Oxlade-Chamberlain was arguably in the form of his career when he cruelly had his season ended in April.

Here was the versatile England international finally getting his chance to star in his favoured role as an attacking midfielder after years toiling away under Arsene Wenger at Arsenal.

An innocuous tackle out near the touchline saw him suffer serious, long-term damage to his knee, ending his campaign instantly and causing him to miss out on the Champions League final and the World Cup as a result.

Klopp would reveal in July that Oxlade-Chamberlain was also expected to miss most of the 2018/19 campaign as the energetic midfielder worked his way back to fitness slowly.

“It feels like now is an appropriate time to tell people that for Ox this coming season will be about focusing on recovery and rehab,” Klopp said.

“We have known this from pretty much the day after he got the injury and after the successful surgery, we were sure of it.”

Consider the bombshell dropped.

Oxlade-Chamberlain will return to this Liverpool side and eventually add the thrust, pace and power that he was displaying on a weekly basis in the second half of last season.

However, such a sight won’t be forthcoming anytime soon and he will be given ample opportunity to get fully fit before he is expected to significantly contribute.

Philippe Coutinho

Coutinho was well on his way to his best-ever scoring season as a Liverpool player when Barcelona made their power play for the Brazil international in January.

The attacking midfielder was so often the conductor in Liverpool’s midfield, regularly supplying the devastating front three of Sadio Mane, Mohamed Salah and Roberto Firmino, while also chipping in with a dozen goals himself.

However, Barca, who had been turned away by Liverpool with aplomb the previous summer, returned at the turn of the year and coughed up an eye-watering £142m to take him to the Nou Camp.

Liverpool kept their powder dry as they weighed up potential replacements and instead beefed up their backline with a £75million deal for Virgil van Dijk – a transfer that was arranged before Coutinho’s exit.

Klopp admitted he was reluctant to lose his No.10 but saw no sense in keeping him against his wishes for the second half of the season.

“It was not that we had a talk and Phil said my head is somewhere else,” said Klopp. “It was just clear after we spoke that it would not work out. We knew it when the club tried everything.”

Emre Can

Can’s summer departure has not been as keenly felt as Coutinho’s, nor has he been missed as much as Oxlade-Chamberlain, but losing a 24-year-old German international midfielder for nothing was galling.

Liverpool and Klopp never wanted Can to leave Anfield, but after making their interest known fairly early on, the former Leverkusen man opted to trade Merseyside for Turin as he joined Italian giants Juventus.

“I want to say thank you to all the people of Liverpool, to my coaches, to the staff, to the staff behind the staff, the supporters, to everyone,” he said after leaving.

“I will always think back with a smile and one piece of my heart will always be in Liverpool. It was a big honour for me to play for Liverpool. I hope to see you one day again. Take care. Yours Emre.”

Again, Klopp was of the stance that he wanted his compatriot to remain at Anfield beyond his contract, saying: “We have to create a situation where players want to stay – that’s all we can do as a club, as a team and me as a manager.”

Can has made just three starts for the Serie A champions since moving.

Nabil Fekir

The transfer saga of the summer.

Nabil Fekir’s proposed switch to Anfield was called off at the 11th hour in dramatic circumstances when Lyon sensationally ended negotiations with the Reds.

The France international was expected to join the Reds before Les Bleus jetted off for the World Cup in June, after club medical staff flew out to Paris following a breakthrough in negotiations.

A second opinion on a long-standing knee issue was wanted by Liverpool and despite conducting in-house TV interviews with LFCTV, Fekir remained with OL.

“Olympique Lyonnais informs negotiations with Liverpool and Nabil Fekir for the transfer of the captain of OL have not succeeded and that Olympique Lyonnais has decided to put an end to this negotiation tonight at 8:00pm,” read a statement back in June.

Despite having two months to return to the negotiating table, a deal never materialised and Fekir remained Lyon’s captain when the Premier League’s transfer window closed in early August.

The World Cup winner is once again in great form for the Ligue 1 side, claiming four goals and as many assists in 10 appearances.