Liverpool pair highlighted as major issue for Iraola - 'Not going to get better'

Former Liverpool star Danny Murphy insists the club's full-backs - Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez - "are not good enough" and "are not going to get better".

The Reds went on a record transfer spree last summer and during that recruitment drive landed Frimpong and Kerkez from Bayer Leverkusen and Bournemouth respectively. They were bought to effectively replace Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson, who had been pillars of Liverpool's recent success.

However both have shown themselves to have limitations, especially defensively, and that has left the Reds exposed. Kerkez is now playing under Andoni Iraola again, the man who got the best out of him at Bournemouth.

But whilst the Spaniard has an impressive reputation Murphy insists neither Kerkez, nor Frimpong, have huge scope for improvement and will remain an issue.

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He said on talkSport's Kick Off: "The bigger problem for Liverpool because at times at Anfield, they are going to dominate the ball so much that the press isn't going to be that important.

"The bigger problem is that the full-backs aren't good enough at Liverpool. They are not good enough. They are not going to get better, it is not in them. They are 100mph. They are working hard but their level of crossing and choice of final pass is really poor.

"It looks worse for the Liverpool fans when you have been so used to seeing two of the best we've ever seen in Andy Robertson and Trent Alexander-Arnold, in terms of assists, quality and picking the final pass. They have brought in two full-backs, who aren't as good. I think they are okay defensively, not brilliant, but they are okay."

Liverpool have continued to throw huge sums at their squad and this summer made Bradley Barcola their third £100million plus signing inside the last 12 months. That comes after they signed the likes of Alexander Isak, Hugo Ekitike and Florian Wirtz last summer.

But despite the money spent and the stellar names added Jamie Carragher believes their recruitment errors could age poorly. He said on Sky Sports: "My fear is this window of 12 months ago could set Liverpool back a year or two, to fix it.

"We're talking 12 months of underperformance from all of these players except [Ekitike]. If this doesn't change in the next two or three months under Iraola, and these players improving, I think we're going to be looking at that as arguably the worst transfer window we've probably seen in Premier League history, when you consider the fees for these players, and what it's going to do for Liverpool."

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