List of Liverpool's greatest ever provides transfer encouragement in huge summer

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This week's Blood Red column looks at a critically important transfer window for Liverpool as the pre-season period draws nearerOn Sunday night, Liverpool FC will officially unveil the player voted by their worldwide fanbase as the greatest in the club's history.The club put out the call earlier this summer for fans to have their say and whittle down nearly 125 years of history into a cascading list of 100 players.At the time of writing, that list is now down to the last five, with legendary captain Graeme Souness the most recently confirmed member of the top 10 in sixth.Without giving away too many spoilers, it's a fair assumption that Mohamed Salah, who has yet to be announced, features in that top five and it was confirmed earlier this week that current captain Virgil van Dijk sits eighth on the all-time list.A wider lens view of the list shows current goalkeeper Alisson Becker at 16 and Sadio Mane at 19.Roberto Firmino, the brilliant Brazilian who answered to the call of 'Bobby', is nestled in at No.22 and Andy Robertson has been picked at 26.Of course, with such things there is always an element of recency bias and the age-range of those voting likely means the superstars of yesteryear are always going to have some of their achievements overlooked in favour of stars of the modern game.Broadly, however, it is instructive that Liverpool have four players signed within the last decade in their top 20 and six inside the top 30.Salah, during his glittering nine years, was good enough to rub shoulders with any of the greats and Van Dijk, as a two-time Premier League winner himself, lays claim to be one of the finest centre-backs of all time. At Anfield, perhaps only Alan Hansen can challenge for the No.1 spot in that position in fact?Robertson, who walked away with Salah as free agents last month, is widely regarded as the best left-back in a generation while Alisson is talked up as one of the top three goalkeepers ever at Liverpool, at a conservative estimate.Mane, signed in 2016 from Southampton, was the jet-heeled wideman whose arrival accelerated the development of Jurgen Klopp's first great team and at his absolute best, the Senegal star was a world-class winger who was feared by the opposition.And whether you personally agree with the specific placings is largely irrelevant, the more pertinent point is just how successful the club's recruitment has generally been since the summer of 2016.That should give hope to the current crop too.

With Van Dijk and Salah featuring in the top 10 of the club's best, it has to foster optimism regarding Liverpool's ongoing rebuild this summer.Wingers are being prioritised, a right-back is needed and the club are believed to be taken an 'opportunistic' approach to the centre-back market, having signed 20-year-old Jeremy Jacquet this week at £60m.A Salah-shaped hole on the right side of the attack needs filling this summer and additional attackers may also form part of the thinking as the club look to go in a new direction with the front-footed and aggressive football preferred by head coach Andoni Iraola.However, there is work to be done before the new Reds boss has the squad to properly compete.Of course, generational players like current captain, Van Dijk, or the third highest goalscorer of all time, Salah, don't grow on trees and the cost of that level of ability today would far exceed the £100m barrier.But the presence of six players signed since 2016 in the top 30 simply has encourage the recruitment department by showing what can be achieved when the right players and profiles are landed.Liverpool, as evidenced by the impressive list, is a club bursting at the seams with history - but the right players can always add fresh chapters of their own.FOLLOW OUR LIVERPOOL FC FACEBOOK PAGE! All the latest news and analysis from Anfield on the Liverpool Echo's dedicated LFC Facebook page