Arne Slot told Liverpool doesn't need any signings in brutal dig at Chelsea transfer policy

As Liverpool prepares for the second match of its United States tour, against Arsenal in Philadelphia on Wednesday evening, it does so without having made a signing yet this summer. Every other club in the Premier League has made at least one, so are the Reds in danger of being left behind?

Liverpool legend John Barnes doesn’t think so. The former England international may not find too many Reds supporters who would currently agree with him though.

Many fans were hoping the club would make a statement of intent in the transfer market ahead of new head coach Arne Slot ’s first season in charge. Yet Barnes believes his old club has enough talent on its roster already, and warned against following the example set by Todd Boehly’s Chelsea regime.

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“I wouldn't choose any (players to sign),” he told the Daily Mail . “Why do we think the solution to a problem is to buy players? We have lots of players. We signed five players last year.”

The counterpoint to Barnes’ view is that four-fifths of that quintet were needed to rebuild an ageing midfield. Would Liverpool have signed four midfielders last summer if Fabinho and Jordan Henderson had not left for the Saudi Pro League?

“I'm not a big fan of football in the last 15 years where you think: ‘Let's just keep signing players’,” Barnes continued. “Look at Chelsea , how many players they signed and where they finished. So that's not the solution. We have enough players to be competitive.”

The 60-year-old was right to suggest avoiding the scattergun approach to transfers which the Blues from west London have employed. Chelsea won the league in Jurgen Klopp ’s first full season in charge but then finished behind the Reds in every subsequent campaign by an aggregate total of 125 points.

Despite seeing their squad experience huge turnover in the last two seasons, the Blues show no sign of easing off this summer. The club has so far purchased Tosin Adarabioyo, Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall, Marc Guiu, Filip Jorgensen, Omari Kellyman, Renato Veiga and Caleb Wiley for new boss Enzo Maresca, splashing out a combined total in the region of $122m (£95.1m/€112.7m) to do so.

It feels unlikely Liverpool will spend such sums in this window. New sporting director Richard Hughes spoke of being ‘opportunistic’ in Slot’s first press conference . Lots of fans won’t like the Scot keeping his powder dry but his strategy seems to have the seal of approval from Barnes.

Liverpool.com says: Barnes has always held a fairly old school view of football. Your own personal thirst for transfers will probably dictate whether you agree with him on this matter or not. It feels like a signing is needed to give everyone around Liverpool a little lift though.