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When Daniel Levy and Andre Villas-Boas sold Elvis and bought The Beatles at Spurs last season, it didn't take long to realise that they'd ended up with four Ringo Stars... maybe even five.

And of course, now that Brendan Rodgers has been handed a transfer kitty/war chest/'insert cliche here', fans of Liverpool's rival clubs are quick to make comparisons with Tottenham's sale of Gareth Bale.

But there a number of key differences between the two situations, and the comparison smacks a little of envy.

Tottenham were a squad who relied on their Welsh Galactico to almost single-handedly drag them to a fifth place finish in the season prior to selling the Whitchurch Wonder.

Liverpool finished second last season, a little bit better than fifth, and they had goalscorers across the pitch.

Undoubtedly, their most important bringer-of-goals was one Mr Luis Suarez, and perhaps with AVB in charge, or with Daniel Levy running the club, Liverpool would unbalance their squad with a raft of high-profile signings, paying over the money for many of them.

But Liverpool have Brendan Rodgers, the Boss, and he isn't planning on signing the Beatles, he's planning on signing the E Street Band.

What Rodgers have done over the past two seasons bears no comparison to the two seasons that preceded Levy and Villas-Boas's spending splurge at Tottenham.

He has been building, from the ground up. And Luis Suarez had always been a huge, huge bonus, the delicious but unexpected cherry on top of his two-tiered decorative cake. He's losing his cherry, so to speak... but he's about to add a third tier to that cake.

Even without Suarez, he has a well-balanced squad capable of efficiently dissecting the opposition, as displayed in the early part of the 2013/14 Premier League season.

But as the season kicked on, two fundamental issues plagued the Liverpool squad. Their lack of incisive options off the bench after the 60-minute mark, and their occasional vulnerability at the back, both factors ultimately cost the Reds a first-place finish.

Brendan Rodgers has already made major steps towards addressing the first issue, bringing in Lallana and Lambert, and close to signing Lazar Markovic and Divock Origi - the latter being a brilliant example of the forward planning going on at Anfield.

Parking the bus against Liverpool won't be so easy in the next couple of seasons, or at least that's the thinking behind these signings.

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The loss of Luis Suarez is a blow, none of the aforementioned players fit the Suarez mould. But at the moment, a front three of Lallana, Sterling and Sturridge doesn't look disastrous.

Liverpool also know that Swansea striker Wilfried Bony wants to play for the Reds, but Swansea top dog Huw Jenkins stands in their way. Jenkins is a significant hurdle in the chase for Bony, he is a man who commands and demands respect, responsible for pulling Swansea from 21st position in Divison Three (now League Two) all the way up to the Premier League.

He isn't the kind of man whose patience you test, and it remains to be seen whether Liverpool CEO Ian Ayre can act with the diplomacy needed to prise Bony away from Swansea without paying through the teeth for him.

Swansea also look set to lose Michu, which will leave them desperate to hold on to Wilfried Bony.

But alas, if this door closes, there is enough time for plenty more to open before the proverbial window closes.

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Importantly, the signings show the methodical plugging of holes and propping up of weak areas in the Liverpool squad. Ian Ayre will fly out this week to finally land the signing of Sevilla left-back Alberto Moreno... another crack cemented over.

With Kop legend Steven Gerrard getting closer to the end of his tremendous run at the club, Emre Can will deputise, standing alongside Henderson and Joe Allen in a young trio of potential midfield commanders of the future.

Rodgers understands that, with his side playing Champions League football, to keep Liverpool among an increasingly competitive top four he will need a perfectly balanced squad.

(Image: Andrew Powell)

A squad in which there is no deadweight, no question marks, no Iago Aspas...

If anything, this season the Liverpool squad should be more balanced than last season, the E Street Band will need to be in tune, on time, operating as one under the system put in place by their band leader... perhaps with the occasional face-melting guitar lick or signature saxophone solo.

It takes a special kind of person to look negatively at a club having north of £100m to spend on new players.

Brendan Rodgers isn't one of those people.

In pictures: Liverpool return to training