Liverpool needed just two players who would’ve won them the title, admits Jamie Carragher

Jamie Carragher believes he could have won the Premier League with Liverpool if they had signed Mohamed Salah and Sadio Mane while he was still playing. Reds icon Carragher spent 17 seasons playing for the first team but a league title eluded the defender.

During his time with the club from 1997 to 2013, Liverpool were not the same force they later became under Jurgen Klopp in the league. The closest Carragher came to tasting domestic success was during the 2008/09 season under Rafael Benitez, when Liverpool finished as runners up, four points behind Manchester United.

Benitez admitted recently that financial constraints limited Liverpool’s ability to sign top quality players. That meant his side was unable to compete for a sustained period with the likes of United and Chelsea.

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Carragher has now backed up his former manager’s explanation, saying Liverpool lacked a world class winger. He claimed having players like 2019/20 Premier League champions Salah and Mane, who arrived at Anfield in 2016 and 2017 respectively, could have made all the difference a decade prior.

Speaking on Stick to Football, brought to you by Sky Bet, Carragher said: “You go into the Champions League every year with the four English clubs and probably Milan and Barcelona. Real Madrid wasn’t as good at the time. Even though we didn’t win the league, we were still one of the best clubs in Europe for five seasons.

“For us we just never had an amazing winger, like a [Cristiano] Ronaldo or a [Ryan] Giggs. If we had one of them, we would have been better. If we had a [Sadio Mané] or a [Mo] Salah back then, we could’ve won the league.”

Mane and Salah both flourished under Klopp, spearheading a devastating attacking trio alongside Roberto Firmino.

They became key figures in Liverpool's rise as a dominant force both domestically and in Europe, reaching three Champions League finals and securing more than 90 points in the league on three occasions.

Mane scored 120 goals in 269 appearances while Salah currently has 214 goals in 354 matches for the Reds. The pair helped bring back the glory years by winning every trophy possible at club level with Liverpool.

Explaining their failed hunt for a title during his own playing days, Carragher added: “Liverpool fans were always brought up on the league. It was always about number 19. With Benitez we were getting better every season, and we were that close. But for whatever reason it just seemed to fall apart.

“I don’t think we were ever a team who were like Newcastle [United] and threw it away, or like Brendan Rodgers’ team. We were never that team or in that position.

"In 2002, we were chasing Arsenal and Manchester United. We look back as Liverpool fans and think that it was much closer than what it was.”