Brendan Rodgers Remains Optimistic about Liverpool Squad After January Transfer Failures

Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers is optimistic about his team's chances this season, and says Liverpool have a strong enough squad to compete, even though the Reds failed to make a single signing in the January transfer window.

The Merseyside club was strongly linked with Mohamed Salah earlier in the mid-season transfer window, before Chelsea roped in the 21-year-old last month.

After failing to bring Salah to Anfield, the former Swansea manager set his sights on Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk attacker Yevhen Konoplyanka, only to see the deal collapse in the final hours of the transfer window.

Despite these failures, Rodgers insists that Liverpool has a strong enough squad to finish the season on a high. The Anfield outfit are fourth in the league table with 46 points from 23 games, trailing league leaders Manchester City by seven points.

"If you look at the position that we're in with 15 games to go, we have shown consistently that we have the squad to compete," Rodgers told Liverpool's official website.

"A lot of those players haven't been able to become available for us. Of course, as a manager, you would like to have strengthened - but I'm very optimistic with the group of players I still have available here.

"If we can keep those players fit, and maximise availability for the rest of the season, we can have a great chance to have a really good finish.

"I think it's difficult to bring certain players in that are going to help us immediately. The availability of the player, and of course the affordability, are always the two factors involved.

"It certainly hasn't been because of a lack of work by the football club. There are lots of people who have worked tirelessly to identify and find the right types of players," the former Swansea manager said.

Liverpool take on West Bromwich Albion at The Hawthorns on Sunday. A win for the Reds could reduce the gap to one point to third-place Chelsea, who face City on Monday evening.