It was after Manchester United’s last visit to Anfield, as they were humbled 4-0 by Liverpool in April 2022, when Ralf Rangnick made the most infamous claim of his Red Devils reign.
"It's embarrassing, it's disappointing, maybe even humiliating," Rangnick said of the heavy loss. "We have to accept Liverpool are six years ahead of us now. When Jurgen Klopp came they changed at the club and lifted not just the team but the club and city to a new level.
“That is what needs to happen with us in the next transfer windows. There will be a rebuild for sure but that does not help us when we still have five games to play.
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“If you analyse the situation it is not difficult to analyse. For me, it is clear there will be six, seven, eight, maybe 10 new players.”
It was a bold claim at the time, to suggest United needed as many as 10 new players if they were to successfully rebuild. Red Devils supporters bemoaned such a statement, while conceding there was truth to it, as rival fans took great glee in their plight.
Yet little over 10 months later and United fans are now taking great joy in new manager Erik ten Hag seemingly proving their former caretaker boss wrong.
Currently third in the table, United sit 10 points clear of sixth-placed Liverpool. Having won the League Cup last weekend, there has even been talk of a Red Devils quadruple, as fans overlook their 14-point deficit on league-leaders Arsenal (albeit with two games in hand) and the fact they are competing in the Europa League rather than Champions League.
Still, there is no getting away from the fact that United are enjoying a much better season than Liverpool. Jurgen Klopp would admit as much when previewing the game, with Rangnick’s ‘six years ahead’ claim now looking rather premature, even if the Reds’ decline this year has seemingly accelerated the process.
United travel to Anfield off the back of an 11-game unbeaten run, and have lost just one of their last 22 and two of their last 32 matches in all competitions. They've come a long way from the side that opened the season with defeats in their opening two matches, against Brighton & Hove Albion and Brentford, prior to Ten Hag recording his first win when his side hosted Liverpool back in August.
Yet while Rangnick has been mocked for his doom and gloom assessment as a result, scratch beneath the surface and he wasn’t actually that far off when it came to rebuilding the United squad. Granted, Ten Hag hasn’t made 10 major signings yet, but the Dutchman isn’t far off.
The Red Devils spent a combined £228.5m when bringing in Tyrell Malacia (£14.7m), Lisandro Martinez (£57.5m), Casemiro (£70m), and Antony (£86.3m) in the summer, along with the acquisition of Christian Eriksen on a free transfer.
Meanwhile, such signings were complemented by the loan arrivals of Wout Weghorst and Marcel Sabitzer in January, while Jack Butland was also brought in on loan after Martin Dubravka's own temporary deal was cut short. So that’s nine new additions to the United squad, though admittedly eight with the goalkeepers cancelling each other out, which is still a number Rangnick suggested 11 months ago.
There is one issue with this rebuilding job at Old Trafford, though. As Klopp would point out at his pre-match press conference, it’s hardly long-term business.
“Go through the team. How could they not be good?” the German told reporters. They don’t have one player where you think, ‘woah, what is he doing there?’
“Rashford is in the form of his life (but) he is not the only decisive player. Fernandes’ movements are really smart where he shows up and surprising all of a sudden and Casemiro is linking up and whoever is playing next to Casemiro will be a good footballer: Fred, Sabitzer, McTominay.
“Super experienced players came in like Eriksen and Casemiro. They were all over the world successful. Obviously Eriksen is a miss because he played a really good season until then.
“The last line and man-orientated way they defend makes it really physical and then the counter-attacks and the other winger, whoever it may be Garnacho, Sancho, and up front the Dutch fella, really physical.
“They are really experienced, they have quality, and a good way of playing. A new way to defend. It is a good team, how they could not be successful?
“A good set up. It is obviously not a team built for the next 20 years because the players they signed are for now, but for now it is really good.”
From those eight new arrivals, Eriksen and Casemiro have made the biggest impact. Both are aged 31. World Cup winner Martinez has done well enough and at 25 will get better, but Malacia and Antony, both aged 23, are yet to really make their mark though, granted, time is on their side.
From the loanees, Weghorst is 30 and unlikely to join permanently from Burnley with the Dutchman only ever a short-term answer in attack. Meanwhile, Sabitzer will turn 29 later this month. On loan from Bayern Munich, there has been a suggestion United could open talks to sign him permanently but he was only ever a reactionary replacement for the injured Eriksen and is, again, hardly a long-term addition. Butland is nothing more than a back-up goalkeeper who boosts the homegrown quota.
As a result, as effective as Eriksen and Casemiro have been this season, United will soon be in the market to replace them again. Meanwhile, if the likes of Antony don’t step up, he will be written off as an ill-judged expensive purchase.
This would not be the first time Klopp has warned against the short-term thinking which takes place at United. He did so in the summer of 2021 prior to their re-signing of Cristiano Ronaldo.
“It’s not about me to judge that. It’s about if other clubs can do things like this, it’s obviously not business for the future,” he said. “In three or four years we will have the benefit of that, it’s for now and immediately if that happens.
“That is how some clubs are obviously working and that is absolutely fine, but there must be different ways. There must be a team a year later and two years later, for us at least. And three years later as well.
“You need success. We felt that if you can win trophies it is great but it’s not, even with the best squad in the world, possible every year. If that’s not possible, you still need to make sure you develop as a team and a club.
“That’s what we did and that’s what we do. Anything else is really not in our hands. We watch it like all of you and will see what happens.”
Little over 18 months on, with Ronaldo's contract now long since terminated and the Portuguese veteran moving to Saudi Arabia, and the Liverpool manager was ultimately proven right.
In contrast, rightly or wrongly, the Reds are a lot more restricted when it comes to their own recruitment as they continue to think long-term.
While United have completed nine senior transfers this season alone, Liverpool have brought in five players in 2022/23, and only signed two in 2021/22. Throw in the emergency signings of Ben Davies and Ozan Kabak in January 2021 in lieu of a centre-back injury crisis, and you have the Reds’ last nine signings.
Bringing in Kostas Tsimikas, Diogo Jota, and Thiago Alcantara in the summer of 2020, Liverpool would sign five players in 2020/21. They would also sign five players in 2019/20, though youngsters Harvey Elliott and Sepp van den Berg, free agents goalkeepers Adrian and Andy Lonergan, and Takumi Minamino for a cut-price £7.25m made up that quintet.
Liverpool parted with £174.25m when signing Naby Keita, Fabinho, Xherdan Shaqiri, and Alisson Becker in the summer of 2018, while they parted with over £170m when bringing in Mohamed Salah, Dominic Solanke, Andy Robertson, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, and Virgil van Dijk in 2017/18 to match that five-man total.
As a result, Klopp's first full season at Anfield, 2016/17, remains his busiest on the transfer front, though not the most expensive, as £69.8m was spent on Sadio Mane, Gini Wijnaldum, Ragnar Klavan, and Loris Karius, with Joel Matip and Alex Manninger also joining on free transfers.
Yet from all 32 of those deals since the start of the German’s first full season at Anfield, Klavan, Manninger Adrian, and Lonergan are the only ones aged over 30 at the time of their arrival. Rather than a first-choice midfield, they were a £4.2m reserve centre-back and three back-up goalkeepers, two of which never kicked a ball competitively for the club.
Van Dijk, Shaqiri, Thiago and Arthur Melo are the only other signings over the age of 25 when signed by the Reds, and even then three of them were 26, with the Spaniard the odd one out at 29. Admittedly, Thiago is a rare exception to Liverpool’s transfer policy as they jumped at the opportunity to snap up up a world class player for an initial £20m.
Meanwhile, Wijnaldum, Salah, Alisson, and Davies are the only 25 year olds that have been brought in. In other words, the rest were nowhere near entering their peak years upon arrival at Anfield.
With five of the aforementioned signings still teenagers upon arrival, only two of those players joining on loan, and 21 of the 32 players brought in since the summer of 2016 still being contracted to the club, it’s clear Liverpool continue to think long-term when it comes to recruitment.
Admittedly such a stance has its problems. The Reds have repeatedly ignored outside urges to sign a new midfielder over the past two years, for example, instead preferring to wait for the right long-term target, with Jude Bellingham the obvious name. Having revamped their attack over the past 12 months, a midfield overhaul is next on the list for the summer for the Reds.
There has been short term pain with Liverpool struggling this year as a result, having been left with an ageing squad stuck in transition, after milking it dry and lifting every major honour going in the process over its entire cycle.
And consequently they are poised to have a busy summer on the transfer front, with Roberto Firmino confirmed to be leaving at the end of his contract, and James Milner, Keita, Oxlade-Chamberlain, Adrian and Juventus loanee Arthur also not contracted beyond the end of the season. They will not be the only departures.
Meanwhile, it’s widely believed that the Reds are in need of at least two, if not three, new midfielders. Should Fabinho depart, that number could even rise to four.
Throw in a new centre-back ahead of the ageing Matip’s contract expiring in 2024, at least one new goalkeeper, if not two, should Caoimhin Kelleher join Adrian in leaving, possibly a new forward to replace Firmino and the usual youngsters brought in each summer and it could be Klopp’s busiest window yet.
Four senior signings is perhaps a more realistic ball-park figure, but you could make an argument for as many as eight new additions at Anfield. Yet any business Liverpool completes will be for the long-term.
They might not be as good as United this season, but the Red Devils will find themselves needing significant recruitment once again in the not-too-distant future. That’s unavoidable given the age of some of their key signings this season, along with the ageing presence of David de Gea, Raphael Varane, Harry Maguire, Fred, Victor Lindelof and Bruno Fernandes.
It’s a good team now but it is not built for the next 20 years as they continue to lack long-term foresight. As a result, having been right about the lack of wisdom in signing Ronaldo, Klopp could have pre-empted their future failings once again.
Of course, the German isn’t overly concerned by United. He even said as much in his pre-match press conference. His focus is Liverpool and building his next great team at the club.
While it won’t be around for 20 years, as his mentality monsters’ current decline after six successful seasons proves, Liverpool are still prepared for their future. If the Reds get their next stage of development right in the summer, United will find themselves back in their shadow once again, as they have been for those last six seasons. Red Devils might mock him now, but maybe Rangnick was right after all.
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