Former Liverpool player Graeme Souness believes his old club still lack the squad depth to make a push for the league title in the upcoming 2017/18 season.

Mohamed Salah and Dominic Solanke have been the only signings to arrive at Anfield this summer so far as the Reds aim to end a 27-year league drought.

Manager Jurgen Klopp had targeted Southampton's Virgil van Dijk but Liverpool had to end their interest in the 26-year-old defender in June following a formal apology to the Saints for tapping the player up.

The club have also been linked with a move for RB Leipzig's Naby Keita throughout the summer, but a deal looks unlikely at this point with the Bundesliga side refusing to entertain any offers.

While Liverpool midfielder Georginio Wijnaldum believes his side have the squad to challenge for the Premier League, Souness disagrees, especially with the return of Champions League football at Anfield.

"With the demands of the Champions League next year, if two or three players get knocks and aren't playing all the time that could badly damage them," Souness told talkSPORT.

"I don't think they've got enough strength in depth to make a real impression in the two big trophies."

The 64-year-old added that a new centre-half should be the priority and has urged his former side to keep "pushing the boat" in their attempts to sign Van Dijk.

"A new centre-half, that would have been the main one for me," he explained. "If I was manager of Liverpool at this time I would have pushed the boat out and done whatever you had to do to get the boy Van Dijk."

"It looks like Southampton are digging their heels in, but Southampton do sell players, they have done consistently over the last few years.

"I'm an enormous fan of Van Dijk, I would love for him to go to Liverpool. When a player makes things look easy, that tells you they're really good at what they do. Whoever gets him would improve them greatly, and it'll be a shame if it's not Liverpool. But, it may still happen, we don't know."

Virgil van Dijk
Van Dijk has quickly established himself as one of the Premier League's top defenders Getty Images