According to Goal, Michael Owen has stated that Liverpool's high-profile signings will always be compared to Mohamed Salah's statistics, and transfer fees exceeding £100 million come with immense pressure.

Wirtz struggled again in Liverpool's match against Manchester City, while his direct opponent, Manchester City midfielder Cherki, shone brightly. Barcola has yet to provide a goal or assist for Liverpool.

Liverpool signed German midfielder Wirtz for £116 million in summer 2025, when the team was still the reigning Premier League champions. In that transfer window, Liverpool also spent heavily on Isak, Ekitiké, and Frimpong.

Liverpool had poor overall performance last season, with Isak, who joined for a British transfer record, scoring only 4 goals. Wirtz's performance was not much better; he struggled to effectively organize attacks from the attacking midfield position and has yet to recapture his brilliance from his time at Bayer Leverkusen.

In the highly anticipated clash against Manchester City, Wirtz failed to impress, while his opponent Cherki stole the show, scoring a clever third goal for Manchester City and helping the visiting team convincingly defeat a ten-man Liverpool on Merseyside.

French international Cherki cost Manchester City only £34 million, but his performance in the northwest has been far superior to Wirtz's. Serious questions have been raised about whether Liverpool spent their money on the right players.

Barcola, who arrived from Paris Saint-Germain for £123 million, also risks following a similar path. The 24-year-old has yet to score or assist in five matches across all competitions.

When asked about the difficulties of Liverpool's expensive signings, Liverpool's former striker Owen told Goal, as an ambassador for Casino.org: "It's a real problem in terms of the money Liverpool has spent on various different players."

"Obviously, in that transfer window, they spent a lot of money on Isak, Ekitiké, Wirtz, and for now, it doesn't seem like that money has been well spent. As the saying goes, a rising tide lifts all boats, but things often work out completely or fail completely."

"I don't think they're necessarily bad players. In fact, I think they're all phenomenal players. When they were signed, it was full of hope, anticipation, and excitement. But obviously, as things developed, the team didn't play well."

"Then you look at the players who cost a lot of money, or you think, 'Wait, the team did so well last year, and they invested so much money, what went wrong?' Your eyes always go to the high-profile signings. I understand that's how it is."

"I know Barcola has only played five matches, but even with that signing, you think the problem is that you need to produce statistics at Salah's level to justify such a transfer fee."

"If you're the club, you think, 'Okay, with this amount of money, we need those kinds of statistics to justify it.' But obviously, nobody can match Salah's statistics. So it's definitely a problem."

"I refuse to believe he (Wirtz) isn't good enough. We've seen his performances in different leagues and with the national team. But there's no doubt his performance at Liverpool has fallen short of expectations, and it's been going on for more than one season."

"This is a problem. Liverpool needs to find a way to bring out the best in him because his ability is beyond question. But whether that can be achieved is a big question, because it's been over a year."

Traducido por IA.

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