Brendan Rodgers’ side currently occupy fourth spot in the Premier League – three points ahead of Tottenham and six of Manchester United. Their cause was helped massively on Tuesday night as Everton were swept aside 4-0 at Anfield,
but Purslow is concerned at the ‘impossible to bridge’ ever-increasing monetary gap between those who enter the continent’s premier competition and the Europa League. Arsenal, who finished fourth last year, earned around £55million after negotiating their way through the qualification stages of the Champions League this season. With that figure set to soar, Purslow is warning Liverpool cannot afford to finish outside the top four, and if they do it could set them back years.
Speaking on talkSPORT’s Alan Brazil Sports Breakfast, he said: ‘Liverpool’s issue is that they are playing with one hand tied behind their back financially because of that massive advantage the top four confers over those that miss out. ‘I haven’t seen too many people referring to it but next year that Champions League advantage becomes almost an impossible gap to bridge, so the difference between fourth and fifth could be something that lasts for generations.
The stakes are as high as they have ever been.’ That makes the need to land a player capable of impacting immediately to help stave off David Moyes’ resurgent United a priority before Friday’s transfer deadline.
Rodgers missed out on Mohamed Salah, who opted for a switch to Chelsea, but is closing in on Yevhen Konoplyanka for £20million That is the sort of statement of intent required to rival that of the £38million United splurged on Juan Mata this week, who Purslow believes will provide the stiffest competition to the Merseysiders during the run-in.
‘I think this will boil down to a United-Liverpool right to the wire [fight] for fourth,’ he added. ‘I fully expect Mata to be the turning point for United. I think he will be the first of several [big signings] and I think United will turn a corner. ‘Whether they do that in time to catch fourth will be tight but in a year’s time I think Chelsea may be wondering whether they strengthened a competitor and regret it.’
Written by Steve Milne
