re: Is Liverpool still a "big" club?

I wonder if the greater parity in the Premier League title race makes it tougher for these clubs to compete for UCL titles.

Germany and Italy are great examples. Bayern and Juve don't have many major threats domestically at the moment, and they've been able to buy up the best talent from their league — even their biggest competitiors (BVB for Bayern, teams like Roma for Juve). Since they are so much better than most of their league, they can stay fresher for UCL matches and undercut their rivals with more money and prestige right now.

Since it's harder to dominate England and even harder now with the TV money for everybody, is it harder now to build up a team good enough to win in Europe?

I'm just thinking out loud here. The talent level is still lesser than those "big clubs." If you dropped this current Man City team in France, that wouldn't mean they'd automatically be UCL contenders this season.

But I will say that if Chelsea and City and United get rolling like they could under their respective managers, they should have the potential to compete for the UCL again in a few seasons. It's just going to take better squad-building and development in their current systems.