If anyone is right to ignore Sir Alex Ferguson's winning formula, it is this all-conquering Liverpool

If ever there is a club that has earned the right to buck conventional wisdom then it is Liverpool. Reaching back-to-back Champions League Finals, and winning it last season, becoming Club World Cup champions, winning the Premier League title for the first time in 30 years with a record 23-point lead, losing just three league games in the past two campaigns and all the while playing brilliant, attacking football certainly earns that right.

So much has understandably been made of their superb, strategic recruitment that has been achieved with Liverpool operating a sustainable model with relatively little owner investment and spending far less than their rivals. It has been an astonishing success story and Jurgen Klopp, sporting director Michael Edwards and the club’s hierarchy have already earned their place in Anfield legend.

And for their next trick? It would be remarkable if Liverpool did as Klopp suggested and not make a major signing this summer. It would be the ultimate statement in defying convention which Liverpool, more than any other club, will be aware of Manchester United developing during their years when Sir Alex Ferguson continually attempted to refresh his squad - although Liverpool may also argue it is something they were adapt at doing themselves during their years of dominance.

The ‘Harvard Business Review’ even published an analysis of what it called ‘Ferguson’s Formula’ with one of the key points being to “dare to rebuild your team”. “Even in times of great success, Ferguson worked to rebuild his team. He is credited with assembling five distinct league-winning squads during his time at the club and continuing to win trophies all the while,” Professor Anita Elberse stated.

Liverpool are still in their first cycle, it would appear, and what is exciting for them is whether the young players Klopp has talked up – such as Neco Williams, Curtis Jones, Harvey Elliott – can be a kind of ‘Class of 92’ in becoming key additions to the first-team squad.

At the same time Klopp is adamant there will be no danger of complacency from his “mentality monsters” and there is no reason to doubt him and his powers of motivation. After all when he knocked Bayern Munich off their perch in Germany by winning the title in 2010-11 he went and did it again the following season by retaining it. Nevertheless Klopp then had to deal with his best players, such as Robert Lewandowski and Mario Gotze, being cherry-picked. Again that should not happen at Liverpool and Klopp has already stated he is enjoying having that security.

Still if there are no big signings it would be the second summer in a row that they have taken a “pause”, as the manager puts it, while those around them scramble frantically to try and keep up or catch up. Okay, Manchester City did not do that last year and have paid the price for not replacing Vincent Kompany but will go for it this summer while Chelsea were prevented from doing so because of their transfer ban but are already making up for that with key signings Timo Werner and Hakim Ziyech and at least two more to follow, with genuine interest in Kai Havertz, Declan Rice and Ben Chilwell partly funded by the sales of Eden Hazard and Alvaro Morata.

Liverpool effectively passed on Werner and that was partly driven by two clear factors that they feel will determine what they do: the financial uncertainty caused by Covid-19 and the lack of clarity as to when the transfer window will open and close, and when the next season will start.

The former suggests that money will be tight; the latter suggests that Liverpool, given their strength, may prefer to play a waiting game and make a late entry into the transfer market especially as it is generally felt there will be a fall of around 30 per cent in fees because of the effect of the pandemic. “Maybe at a later point in the year, if the transfer window is still open, we will know more,” Klopp said last week and it felt telling.

Remember this is the club who lost the Champions League Final in 2018, with goalkeeper Loris Karius woefully at fault, but waited almost two months during the close season before eventually securing his replacement, Alisson Becker. It was – until Chelsea signed Kepa Arrizabalaga for £71million - a world record fee of £65million but it was not as much as Roma were originally demanding. Liverpool held their nerve.

Similarly Klopp waited half a season before securing Virgil Van Dijk from Southampton because he could not get the defender in the summer and so held on until the window opened in January 2018.

Will the same happen again when it comes to the one area of the team where a world-class addition is needed – Liverpool’s attack? Of course Takumi Minamino was signed for £7.25million from Red Bull Salzburg in January but whether he will be able to adequately understudy or replace Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino or Sadio Mane remains to be seen.

It is obvious, as against Aston Villa, that the drop off when one of those three does not play is simply too great. Divock Origi has provided some crucial cameos, not least in Merseyside derby winning goals and his unforgettable, match-winning contribution in last season’s Champions League semi-final comeback against Barcelona, but he is not at the same level while Xherdan Shaqiri is out of the picture and Adam Lallana is leaving.

The crushing 4-0 defeat to City showed that the gap between the two teams is not as great as the table suggests and Klopp knows that. The fear will be the dominance this season may persuade the owners that further investment can wait as will, maybe, the postponement of January’s African Cup of Nations as they will no longer be without Salah or Mane for up to six weeks. Either way it will be fascinating to see how it plays out this summer, whether Liverpool do indeed go against ‘Ferguson’s Formula’ or whether it is all part of them showing their strength by moving into the market when it suits. The suspicion is it will be the latter.

The Premier League may finally be a place for emerging talent to flourish

A number of the Premier League’s outstanding performers over the weekend had one thing in common: they were young and, often, very young in the case of Manchester United’s 18-year-old Mason Greenwood and Arsenal Bukayo Saka, who is the same age. Just a year older, at 19, is Brighton’s Tariq Lamptey who excelled in their win away to Norwich City while Curtis Jones, again only 19, made a goal-scoring impact from the bench for Liverpool.

Declan Rice was impressive in West Ham’s draw away to Newcastle as was his friend, Mason Mount, in Chelsea’s comfortable victory over Watford.  Rice and Mount are both England internationals but are still just 21. Could it be that the behind closed doors games, and the sense there is therefore less pressure and a little more freedom to play, be giving some of the young players a platform to perform?