The pair may not be the biggest names but will add a physical presence the squad lacked last season and give Brendan Rodgers a base for rebuilding

Liverpool require major improvement and have begun their rebuilding work swiftly, steadily and unspectacularly by agreeing deals with Danny Ings and James Milner in the past five days. Hardly a glowing assessment of their early transfer moves, admittedly, yet there already appears a clearer sense of what Brendan Rodgers needs than throughout last summer’s chaotic, ill-conceived and record £117m spree. The manager can only hope this represents a starting point.

Ings’ anticipated move from Burnley was confirmed on Monday, with Liverpool agreeing personal terms with the 22-year-old striker but not a fee with his relegated club. Liverpool expect to pay about £5m‑6m for the England Under-21 international, while the Clarets can cite Tottenham Hotspur’s offer of closer to £10m as reason for an increase. An independent tribunal will decide on the compensation due to Burnley for developing a player aged under 24 in the absence of a settlement.

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“Burnley Football Club has rejected an offer made by Liverpool but will continue to have dialogue with the club in order to reach a resolution over the fee,” read a statement issued from Turf Moor.

Whatever the eventual price – and how Liverpool love to haggle these days – it will represent good business for a young, emerging English talent who scored 11 goals in his first Premier League campaign last term and 21 in contribution to Burnley’s promotion from the Championship in 2013-14. A Fenway Sports Group purchase in every sense but also, in terms of work-rate and movement, a signing far more suited to a Rodgers team than the two strikers Liverpool bought last summer, Rickie Lambert and Mario Balotelli.

With one Premier League goal for Liverpool since his £16m arrival from Milan and more public criticism from his manager than telling performances for the team, Balotelli is the spectacular transfer’s cautionary tale. He also remains the mystifying conclusion to a transfer search that once Luis Suárez was on his way to a dream move and the treble with Barcelona, started with Alexis Sánchez, turned to Loïc Rémy and ended in a choice of the Italy international or Samuel Eto’o, with deadline day looming. With the Belgium forward Divock Origi arriving from Lille this summer and now Ings agreed, Liverpool are clearly in position to avoid a repeat.

Ings and Milner will officially become Liverpool players on 1 July, when their contracts have expired at Burnley and Manchester City respectively.

The 29-year-old England midfielder has been pursued by Rodgers since he rejected a £165,000-a-week contract extension at City last summer and his experience, leadership, versatility and often overlooked ability will be invaluable to a callow team that lost their way last season and have now lost their captain, Steven Gerrard.

Milner and Ings will also provide a physical presence that Liverpool lacked last term. The pair do not represent a statement of intent from a club whose return to the Champions League last term proved to be fleeting – but they will undoubtedly improve the squad. With interest in Christian Benteke, albeit with some reluctance to meet the £32.5m buyout clause in his contract at Aston Villa, and the Southampton right-back Nathaniel Clyne, subject of a rejected £10m bid, Liverpool’s work has only just begun.

Judgment cannot be passed on a summer’s transfer policy in the second week of June.

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Of course, as Rodgers knows only too well from his time at Anfield, the club’s best-laid plans often go awry and with Raheem Sterling wanting to go, Balotelli’s agent claiming he wants to stay and Benteke by no means guaranteed, the potential for disruption lies ahead. But the Liverpool manager’s relief at surviving FSG’s end-of-season-night of the long knives extends to the addition of Milner and Ings. And both in time for a full pre-season with their new club.

Liverpool’s glaring weakness was in attack last season, where their recognised strikers Daniel Sturridge, Lambert, Balotelli and Fabio Borini produced a measly eight Premier League goals combined. Ings was more potent in a team that lost their Premier League status, with two more league goals than Liverpool’s leading scorer (Gerrard), four more than Sterling and six more than Philippe Coutinho and Adam Lallana. He enters the forthcoming European Under-21s Championship having scored four times in nine appearances for Gareth Southgate’s side.

Unspectacular the new pair may be but what matters before a critical season for Rodgers is that Ings and Milner are the right fit for Liverpool.