Why Liverpool will finish outside the Premier League top four and have no chance of signing Jude Bellingham – O’Hara

Former Tottenham midfielder, Jamie O’Hara has said Liverpool FC will finish outside the Premier League top four and have no chance of signing Borussia Dortmund midfielder Jude Bellingham.

Saturday’s 1-0 loss at the City Ground leaves Jurgen Klopp’s side in eighth spot in the Premier League table.

The Reds trail fourth-placed Newcastle by five points, though the Merseyside outfit do have a game in hand over the Magpies.

But O’Hara has declared that Liverpool will continue to suffer from inconsistent displays as he blamed their poor recruitment in the summer.

Speaking on talkSPORT’s Breakfast Show, O’Hara said: “How has this squad all of a sudden got so bang average?”

Host Laura Woods then gave a reason as to why Liverpool are struggling with the likes of Diogo Jota, Luis Diaz, Thiago Alcantara, Darwin Nunez, Joel Matip and Ibrahima Konate all on the sidelines.

To which O’Hara replied: “I know they’ve got injuries, they’ve got big injuries to key players I get that, everyone picks up injuries, but this team has competed with Man City for three/four seasons.

“They haven’t played the same XI the whole time in the last three seasons, they’ve picked up injuries and still competed.

“When I look at this team, I’m looking at it going, ‘how have they dropped off so much?’ And the truth is they haven’t invested.

“They’ve relied on [Virgil] van Dijk being unbelievable for a few seasons and now he’s dropped off because of his injury, even though he was brilliant against Man City.

“And the team’s aged. They haven’t invested in it, they haven’t renewed the team and the players they have brought in aren’t good enough like they had in the past, like [Sadio] Mane.

“So the problem that they’ve now got is, is that they’ve taken a step backwards and they’ve got to figure out how to get out of it.

“But I don’t see them getting into the top four. I can’t see them breaking into the top four with that team.”

McCoist then asked: “If you were Jurgen Kloppmaybe 18 months ago, would you not have loved to have gone and got maybe Bellingham and [Declan] Rice?”

O’Hara replied: “Yeah of course but they haven’t! Do you want to compete? You’re seeing Newcastle, Arsenal, Chelsea… do you want to compete?

“They won’t even get Jude Bellingham now, they won’t get Bellingham!”

Former Rangers striker McCoist agreed, adding: “We’re talking about going for players like Rice and Bellingham, if they’re not in the Champions League you can forget that.”

O’Hara then stated: “I still think Liverpool can win the Champions League, I think at the moment they look knackered.

“They look like they have got a hangover from last season, so over the course of a 38-game season in the Premier League I think they’re going to struggle to get in the top four.

“I think they’re a cup competition side, they can still win the FA Cup and I still think they can win the Champions League because if you put them up in a one-game scenario or over two legs, you put them up in a big moment you’ve still got big game players.”