Rio Ferdinand has suggested Jurgen Klopp should take a leaf out of Sir Alex Ferguson's book when it comes to rebuilding a squad.
Liverpool have endured a shaky start to the season and have won just four of their opening 12 Premier League games, though did run out 2-0 winners in their last outing against in-form Napoli in the Champions League. There have been many reasons why the Reds have struggled and Ferdinand has offered up another one while on punditry duty for BT Sport.
The United legend explained how the age of Liverpool's squad is becoming an issue and praised his former Red Devils boss for being able to spot the age decline before anyone else, which in turn helped the rebuilding process at Old Trafford.
"He [Ferguson] was great at seeing the chink in them players' armours whatever it be and changing and getting them out before they were on the other side of the mountain and going downhill," Ferdinand explained.
"Whereas you look at we're talking about certain players in this Liverpool team who are probably on the other side of the mountain now in terms of where they are in their careers.
"Jaap Stam was the best defender in the world at the time - 'see you later.' David Beckham, in the form of his career - 'bye bye!' Ruud van Nistelrooy, top goalscorer at United, but the man just saw something early and it's about making them big calls, the risk involved with that."
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In stark contrast, Liverpool are still lining up with many of the players they were half a decade ago.
The likes of 32-year-old club captain Jordan Henderson and versatile veteran James Milner, 37, are both arguably past their prime yet feature regularly for the Reds.
Talismanic forwards Mohamed Salah and Roberto Fimino are also both 30 and 31, meaning that is another duo that could be starting to enter the final furlong of their careers at the highest level.
Over the course of this season, the average age of Liverpool's starting line-ups has been 27 years and one month. That sees Klopp's men come in as the third oldest side in the Premier League, younger than only West Ham and Fulham respectively.
With each passing match week, the Premier League looks more and more like a young man's game - as exhibited by the fact that shock league leaders Arsenal are the youngest side in the division with an average age of 23 years and eight months.
The mega-money move for 23-year-old Darwin Nunez was a step in the right direction, but the Uruguayan international has hardly set the world alight since arriving from Benfica.
