Jamie Carragher has named the signing who would have Liverpool ‘six points clear’ at this stage of the Premier League season.

The Reds are currently not doing badly at all. After 17 games, Jurgen Klopp’s side sit in second place, just a point behind leaders Arsenal.

With the Gunners coming to Anfield tomorrow, there’s a chance to go back to the top of the table. And previewing that game for The Telegraph today, Carragher has taken a look at both teams.

On his old club, the Liverpool legend claims that signing Arsenal’s Declan Rice would have made an enormous difference to how the table currently looks.

“If Liverpool had signed Declan Rice last summer, they might already be six points clear of the rest,” says the pundit. An interesting thought.

Carragher rues Rice escape

We’re not quite sure we understand all the hype around Declan Rice just now. Fine, yes, he’s a good player who has beefed up Arsenal’s midfield. That’s fair enough.

But in truth, it’s hard to say that he’s been as transformative as plenty would have you believe that he has.

Arsenal are still more or less in the same position they were last season. They haven’t kicked on to go clear at the top of the Premier League, they’re doing just as they did in 2022/23 with Thomas Partey anchoring the midfield.

In that respect, it’s hard to really see that Rice would have improved Liverpool as much as Carragher asserts.

It’s true that the 24-year-old would have been a better signing than Wataru Endo, of course. He’s clearly a level above the Japan international.

But Liverpool’s reason for dropping points this season has not been because of their midfield. Unlike last season, the Reds look relatively comfortable in the middle of the pitch and are no longer quite so easy to run through.

They could have a better, more effective No,6, but to say it’s the difference between being second by a point and six points clear is, to us, absolute and utter nonsense.

Rice is a good player, of that there is no doubt. But this kind of hyperbole simply has to end. He was never going to sign for Liverpool, and frankly, we’re not a bit bothered.

Liverpool fans will soon have to make do without talisman Mohamed Salah, for a little while at least.

The Reds have been as reliant as ever on Salah this season. Nearing the halfway point of the campaign, Mo already has 15 goals in all comeptitions.

But in January, the fun will have to be pause. As he did in 2022, Salah will head to the Ivory Coast to attempt to win the Africa Cup of Nations with Egypt. That should present a chance for someone to step up at Liverpool. And speaking to ESPN, South Korea national team manager Jurgen Klinsmann thinks it should be Darwin Nunez.

“The best thing for him [Nunez] is obviously getting playing time,” said Klinsmann, when asked about Darwin’s current struggles in-front of goal.

“If Mo Salah now leaves for the Africa Cup of Nations for a couple of weeks that might be his chance. Getting more minutes on the field, getting more opportunities. It’s always down to work, work, work when you as a striker have moments where you’re struggling getting goals, you go back to the training ground and work on it. I think once somebody leaves a little bit of space for you, because he’s not there for a few weeks, that’s the opportunity.

“I think it’s exciting when you look at the players that Liverpool can add to the mix because Salah leaves. You have Gakpo, Luis Diaz, Nunez. This is fantastic. As a manager you just throw them in and say ‘come on guys work it out, find a way to score.’ Then Salah will be back in a few weeks, hopefully with a title in his case.”

Liverpool looking for new talisman

This is a good point from Klinsmann and worth delving into. Just at the moment, you wouldn’t really fancy any of the three players the coach mentions to step up and deliver in Salah’s absence. Perhaps least of all Nunez.

Although they were all contributing relatively frequently earlier in the season, their effectiveness in-front of goal has since diminished.

Nunez is famously without a goal in 11 games now. Since the Uruguayan last scored, Salah has plundered five goals. Gakpo has three and Diaz two.

It has been fine over that run of matches, as other players have really stepped up to fill the hole. The midfield has chipped in nicely, with Trent Alexander-Arnold on the score-sheet a couple of times, too.

But in the back of their minds Liverpool know that if they’re struggling to make the breakthrough, there’s always a chance Salah will pop up with a big goal.

Without the Egyptian in the team, you just don’t currently have confidence that Nunez, Gakpo or Diaz will find the net. Diogo Jota may be back by then of course, and he’s been the man in form for Liverpool, Salah aside.

Nevertheless, as Klinsmann says, Mo being away could be the chance one of the misfiring trio have been waiting for. We would love it to be Nunez, who could go a long way to quietening chatter about his future by putting the Reds on his back.

Luckily, Salah doesn’t miss too many matches while away with his country. But if Liverpool are to maintain their charge on four fronts in his absence, they’re going to need a new talisman. Please, let it be Darwin.

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