Compare.bet sat down with John Barnes this week to talk all things Premier League and Liverpool ahead of the start of the 24/25 season. The ex-Liverpool forward spoke about how he thinks Curtis Jones will thrive under Arne Slot, how Stefan Bajčetić could be the future of Liverpool’s midfield.
Who is your winner this season, and who are the main relegation candidates?
“First of all, you can look at Man City, Arsenal and Liverpool. That’s been the situation for the last couple of years. Arsenal probably became Manchester City’s biggest rival last year, mainly because of the situation with Klopp and the injuries we’ve had, but I think Liverpool will make a push again this season. However, with a new manager coming in, in Arne Slot, we don’t know how it’s going to go. In preseason they’ve been fantastic. They’ve won all the games and they look really good, so I think they’ll make a big push for it.
But Man City will be favourites once again. The consistency they’ve shown, the goals they’ve scored, the way they’ve played, Arsenal will also be strong, but I think Liverpool will make a better fit of it than they did last year. So, of course, for me, Man City are still favourites, but I think Arsenal and Liverpool could push them close.
As far as relegation goes. You always have a surprise case, like when Brentford came up. I suppose you’re looking at Ipswich and Southampton; I think Leicester have enough to stay up because they have had good Premier League experiences, they have a bit of money and they’ve got a good manager. I think Forest will also be down there. They just escaped last year, so I think you’re looking at Southampton, Ipswich, and Forest as the favorites to go down. But of course, as I’ve shown, where Brentford have stayed up for years, Bournemouth have stayed up when they’re expected to go down. You can never tell, but I think for those three it’ll probably be difficult.”
And just going back to the Premier League winner, what is the main reason you think why Liverpool can’t win it this year under Arne Slot?
I never said they can’t win it! Of course they can win it. The questions was who I thought were the favorites, but of course they can win it. Pre-season has gone really well and they’ve been playing great football. But as we all know, when you get a new manager, especially when someone as iconic as Jurgen Klopp leaves, then, of course, we don’t know how things are going to go from a consistency point of view with Liverpool, because it’s a new manager.
Man City are favorites because they have been the favorites for the last four or five years. Arsenal have been very consistent as well. I think we know what we’re going to get from Arsenal, but I wouldn’t be surprised if Liverpool won it. But Man City, for me, are still are the favorites
And can we get an early prediction on who you think will be the Golden Boot winner this year?
I’m going to go out on a limb and say, Erling Haaland. (laughs)
You look at the way Liverpool play, the way Liverpool are going to play, Mo Salah will score goals, but there will also be more creativity coming from him. The way they played before, it was really for Mo Salah to score goals, whereas now the way that Liverpool have played in preseason, it’s for goals to come from different parts of the field. Mo will score a lot of goals, but he’ll also be creative.
I suppose the only real center forward we have in the Premier League, the old school type of Gary Lineker, Ian rush, Robbie Fowler, Andy Cole, real number nine is Erling Haaland.
Arsenal will also score a lot of goals, but I think they’ll share it around because they don’t have an out and out number nine. Obviously, if they sign Ivan Toney for the way that they play, they will create chances, but at this moment in time, they haven’t. So for me, Erling Haaland would once again be the favorite.
Liverpool are yet to sign anyone under the new manager, we’ve heard that the Martin Zubimendi has become maybe the latest midfielder that they’ve tried and failed to sign. Do you feel the reputation as shrewd operators in the transfer market is still intact?
It’s not a question of being a shrewd operator. They’ve offered the money and the player didn’t want to come. You don’t have to be shrewd. There’s nothing shrewd about signings these days.
If you pay the money that the club wants and you pay the salaries that the players want, then they will come. It’s nothing about being shrewd or if the player wants to come, because Liverpool now have the reputation and people want to come to Liverpool. If they don’t want to come to Liverpool, they don’t want to come to Liverpool. So it’s not a question of being shrewd. It’s a question of the club accepting the money, or the player wanting to come. So there’s no shrewdness that is going to get a player to a club. The money will get a player to a club.
If he’s a player leaving his home country, they may say “why should I want to uproot?” So no, I think that gone are those days whereby you need shrewd operators to get them to clubs. You offer them enough money, or you offer their club enough money, and they will come. You can’t convince them otherwise by being shrewd. It’s to do with the fact that the player may not want it to come, or the club may not have wanted to release it.
It’s obvious if you’re going to sign Lionel Messi or Cristiano Ronaldo, that’s not being shrewd. That’s just being obvious. The Zubimedi transfer may or may not happen, it doesn’t look like it’s going to happen, but we don’t know.
There are suggestions that Liverpool may not sign a number six this summer. If that was the case, do you believe that Curtis Jones and Ryan Gravenberch are good enough to justify this decision?
You also can look at Bajcetic. Obviously Endo came in as a stop-gap to play in that role. He’s a very good defensive midfield player. But the way that Arne Slot wants to play, I think he wants more quality on the ball in terms of playing the ball forward, quickly, playing it into the pockets, playing one or two touch, I think Endo is very good defensively, but I think that the number six role to Liverpool is going to be like a Pirlo type of role, who is very good in possession.
So, Bajcetic can do that. Curtis Jones can and I’d say him more than Gravenberch, because Curtis Jones has played there. Gravenberch has played there but perhaps not quite as much. I think that Bajcetic, once he gets 100% fit, that role is his.
It’s a different kind of a role that number six, and I think that it probably would have suited Thiago the way that Arne Slot wants to play. But of course, he’s not there. So yeah, I think that Curtis Jones could play in that role. But I think that long term, that’ll be Bajcetic,
And are there any other areas that you feel Liverpool need to strengthen in the transfer window, or any particular players you’d like to see arrive at Anfield?
Unless you’re going to get better than what we have, no. The whole idea that the solution to problems is signing players, I think Chelsea have proved that that’s not the solution. You can’t just keep signing players.
Now, if players leave, then you may have a problem. But if you then look at up front, for example, we’ve got Diaz, Jota, Salah and Nunez. Carvalho is now gone, he was doing well preseason, he seems to be the type of player who Arne Slot liked.
But I think we have enough. We still have a lot of players in midfield. If we lose players, then obviously that may be a situation that we have to address. But at this moment in time, I think, apart from that number six position, I don’t think that we need to really to sign anyone. Obviously Zubimendi didn’t come. But I’m quite happy if it’s going to be Curtis Jones, or if it’s going to be Bajcetic or even Gravenberch to play there. As much as we’re looking at a different type of a number six, I think that he is good enough in terms of the way Arne Slot wants to play.
Jurgen Klopp was a big fan of Fabio Carvalho, do you think it was a mistake to let him go?
If a player doesn’t want to stay, there’s nothing the club can do to keep him so I don’t think so. Why keep an unhappy player? He probably would have played more under Arne Slot, because the way that they play probably suits him, Harvey Elliot and Curtis Jones more than the way that Jurgen played. So as much as Jurgen had him for a while, he never really played for Liverpool.
But in preseason he played and he scored a couple of goals. He played really well, but obviously he’s still looking at the bigger picture and thinking, you still have Salah, you have Jota, you have Diaz, you got Nunez, you got Gravenberch, they’re in those wide positions, probably ahead of me.
So as much as he’s done well, he’s probably thinking, I want to be playing regularly. And even if you the way Liverpool plays now suits me more. Am I going to get in ahead of those players?
Particularly looking at Salah, Luis Diaz and Jota, he probably isn’t. I think Liverpool would love to have kept him, but he has decided to leave which I commend him for, to go somewhere where he’s going to play.
Darwin Nunez scored 11 premier league goals last season. How much more do you think Liverpool can get out of him in this up and coming campaign?
What they can’t get anymore out of him is his energy, his physicality and his willingness to run, his willingness to work for the team, which he has been the best player at Liverpool for that.
Now, obviously, I don’t think he’s ever going to be as clinical as a Robbie Fowler or Ian rush to score 30 goals in a season. But with what else he gives us, as well as chipping in with his 15 or so goals, whatever he’s going to score, I think that’s good enough. It really just depends on the manager, because he was a real Jurgen Klopp kind of player, high energy, but the football has changed now, Liverpool are going to play slightly differently.
So maybe Arne Slot is going to say we need more quality and not just effort and commitment, more composure, and they’ll work on that. But once again, it really just depends on what the manager wants, because we know that he’s going to play in a much more considered way than Jurgen. He’s probably not going to be as high energy, high tempo, heavy metal type of football.
But I think in terms of what he gives just as well as creating chances, working hard for the team, scoring the odd goal, I think that he’s fine. But once again, it really just depends on Slot’s perception of it.
Is there a certain player who you see really thriving under the new management, or who could be a bit of a surprise for Liverpool this season?
I think Curtis Jones, he’s the one who’s enjoyed it the most, because he’s a very technical player. If you think about Jurgen’s midfield in the past, where it’s been Fabinho, Henderson and Wijnaldum, they’re a very hard working set of players. Curtis has got probably more quality than that in possession and Arne Slot probably wants that quality in midfield. He can play any of the three midfield positions and he’s loved it a pre-season. He got a bit of an injury but he has strived on it.
Harvey Elliott also, it’s probably a little bit more difficult for Harvey because he plays more forward in one of the front three positions and with the players we have there, they’re probably ahead of him. As much as Harvey can play one of the midfield three positions, Dominik Szoboszlai is good. He’ll do everything, he can do anything. He’ll be one of the first names on the team sheet, but probably one of the unknown quantities for me would be Curtis Jones.
There’s also Jarrell Quansah. Of course, Matip is now gone, and you’ve got Konate and Van Dijk, who really would have made those positions their own. But in terms of what Quansah has done pre-season, and I know under Arne slot, we’re going to play a different way, but he’s better on the ball than Konate, as much as Konate may be a stronger defender.
But Quansah is also a good defender. He’s good on the ball, and I know he wants to bring the ball out from the back, so he’ll be a bit of a surprise package in terms of maybe even being in a head of Konate, possibly because of the way Arne Slot wants to play. So those two for me, Connor Bradley as well. Because every time he has played for Liverpool in pre-season he has never let Liverpool down, but of course that’s Trent’s position so it’ll be hard for him.
Virgil van Dijk’s contract expires at the end of the season, is it crucial that the club sign him down to a new contract even though he’s 33?
If he wants a new contract, and he wants to stay then it’s crucial that he stays. If he doesn’t want to stay, then, I’ve said it all along, any player is crucial for the club only if he is happy and if he wants to stay. Trent is the same, his contract is coming to an end in 2025.
What you would say, is that players that have previously left on a free have given 100%. Wijnaldum and Mane both left on a free transfers but they didn’t down tools in their last season. Liverpool players aren’t like that.
And Luis Diaz has been has looked really good in pre-season for Liverpool, and how important do you think it is that he’s fully fit for this season ahead?
If you want to challenge and try and win the league, you need the best players. From an attacking point of view, he’s had a great pre-season.
He played well in the Copa America. He had a good last season. So of course it is, but I think that up front we have a lot of good players. Midfield is the position really where I’m looking to say we have to improve. You want your best players on form, and he’s one of your best players. He also works very hard, he’s very creative, he scores goals, he alleviates pressure by carrying the ball forward quickly. It’s important has a good season for us.
And. Focusing away from Liverpool, who’s the most exciting young, up and coming Winger? Do you believe in the Premier League at the moment? And is there anyone who maybe feels a bit underrated also?
Well, the thing about them is that wingers are a lot different now, fullbacks are the new wingers. The wingers are the ones who come in to score goals. You get the width from the fullbacks. You look at Martinelli and Doku; these are the obvious ones, but I think Kudus at West Ham is really good and will surprise a lot of people. Saka as well, but I don’t consider these wingers; these are wide players.
Of course now Carvalho after moving to Brentford, I would look out for him.
And we know that Jurgen Klopp was obviously very good at working with the youngsters at Liverpool. How would you think Arne Slot will do here with working with the very talented crop that they’ve got there at the club?
He’s already shown fair in them. I was with them for pre-season in America, and as I mentioned, some of the players such as Connor Bradley, Curtis Jones, and Carvalho who is now gone, but he’s given them an opportunity.
The problem they have is they have so many good players, international players, ahead of them that I can’t necessarily see any of them breaking into the team regularly to then take over from any of the usual suspects.
However, I think he trusts them enough, and he will use them enough. Dutch coaches like to work with young players, because they can influence them into terms of the way you think. He trusts a lot of them. A lot of the youngsters pre-season played against Arsenal, and we were under the cosh. He put them in. He has faith in them. He trusts them.
I don’t necessarily feel that any one of them is going to break in ahead of Salah, Diaz and Trent, but he knows that he can trust them, as Jurgen Klopp did.
And do you feel that achieving a top four finish is still the absolute minimum requirement for the club this season, or under the new manager?
I’d be very surprised if they weren’t in the top three, nevermind the top four. Until Arsenal had made a real push recently, it was between Man City and Liverpool for years. I’d be disappointed if we weren’t in the top three.
With the transfer window still open, do you think there’s anywhere that Liverpool needs to strengthen this summer if they are to make a signing, and is there anyone that you’d like to see them try and sign?
I’m not a big fan of signing someone just because they’ve done well at the Euros; maybe Zubimendi would have been a signing like that. As I said, number six is a position they need to look at, but Bajcetic and Jones are there. I don’t think there’s anyone that Liverpool can realistically get. They don’t need to sign anyone because we have enough players.
Would you say the current youth setup that they have at the moment, the players in the youth setup, are good enough to be promoted instead of signing someone else?
They are. You look at when they actually come in, they’ve come in and played well. If you get a Steven Gerard, a Michael Owen or a Robbie Fowler, they’re going to go straight into the team, as Trent did a couple of years ago.
Bajcetic could do so shortly. But what you need from your academy is players who can come in, and Jurgen Klopp has shown it by putting them in big games, even in the League Cup Final against Chelsea. We had eight or nine of them play, and they can do that.
I don’t necessarily feel there’s anyone there who’s going to come go straight into the team to take over from Mo Salah, but I think the squad, in terms of the young players who will have to come in now and again through injuries, or even Cup matches, we’ve got enough players there to do that.
