Michael Owen has told Sports Mole that his former club Liverpool should be aiming to finish within the Premier League's top four places next season.
Spearheaded by a 31-goal Luis Suarez, it seemed that the Reds were going to end the club's 24-year wait for the league title last term, but dropped points in matches against Chelsea and Crystal Palace during the run-in allowed Manchester City to pip Brendan Rodgers's side to the main prize.
Uruguayan international Suarez has since departed for Barcelona for a reported £75m, most of which has already been reinvested in bolstering the squad at Anfield with six players, including Adam Lallana, Rickie Lambert and Lazar Markovic.
However, with more arrivals anticipated before the transfer window closes at the end of the month, Owen has stressed the need for Rodgers to spend the money from the Suarez sale "wisely" and he has cited the example of Tottenham Hotspur and Gareth Bale from 12 months ago as a word of caution.
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"You're never going to replace [Suarez] with one player. Liverpool have spent money on a variety of different players, but it's going to be so difficult for them. They've not only lost a player that scores so many goals, but he also brings out an extra 20% in the players around him," said the now-BT Sport pundit.
"I'd liken the situation to Tottenham and Gareth Bale. He was obviously a very important player, but perhaps they didn't reinvest that money wisely - that's what Brendan Rodgers has got to do. A couple of the players Spurs signed did well, but the rest didn't, so you'd have to say they spent the money poorly."
The second-placed finish has meant that Liverpool will compete in the Champions League for the first time since 2009 when the competition restarts in September.
Consequently, that has added at least six more fixtures to the club's calendar - a figure that could rise depending upon their success in the tournament, as well as the two other domestic cup competitions. That, coupled with Suarez's exit, has made Owen concede that finishing in the top four this time around, and not only another tilt at the title, should be considered "an outstanding achievement" for a club that he scored over 150 goals for during a seven-year period.
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"When you look at it realistically, if they finish in the top four again, it will be an outstanding achievement. They've lost one of the best players in the world - lost his goals and the aura that he had on the team, it's a massive hole to fill. Also, they've got a lot more games to play this year, especially if they do well in the Champions League, which will stretch the squad and will leave tired legs after midweek games," he added.
"As we saw with Liverpool last season, if you haven't got that, you can have a very good season. With those things conspiring against Liverpool, if they can finish in the top four and keep building under Brendan Rodgers, who I think has done a fantastic job, as well as gradually filling the space left by Suarez and adapting to the Champions League, that will be a good season."
Liverpool begin their 2014-15 Premier League campaign with a home encounter against Southampton on Sunday, August 17.
Owen was speaking after training with Chester City to launch BT Sport's exclusive live coverage of the Vanarama Conference which kicks off this weekend. BT Sport will show up to 30 exclusively live games from the Vanarama Conference this season including the Promotion Final at Wembley. BT Sport is free with BT broadband, to find out more visit www.btsport.com.
Liam Apicella
