The last time Liverpool won the league, Sepp van den Berg was the only signing for which the club paid a fee in the subsequent summer. The Reds have been warned that they will not be able to get away with a similarly quiet transfer window.
Arguably, of course, they didn’t get away with it the first time. Having won the Champions League and the Premier League in back-to-back seasons, Jurgen Klopp’s side never quite scaled those same heights again, although that had more to do with Man City and Thibaut Courtois than any glaring recruitment errors at Anfield.
Even so, it would be a pleasant change to see Liverpool opt to strengthen from a position of strength. Losing the likes of Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk, and Trent Alexander-Arnold on free transfers would perhaps somewhat undermine that position, but it would make incoming business even more imperative.
Yet even if all three stay put, Arne Slot still has every right to expect some significant backing. He was only furnished with Federico Chiesa last summer, and the upcoming transfer window looks like a prime opportunity for him to put his stamp on the squad.
Continuity from the Klopp era has certainly proved to be the best policy up to this point. But while Slot has undoubtedly been handed an excellent foundation, he was not hired merely to act as a custodian — ultimately, he is aiming toward leading the next great Liverpool team to glory.
Joe Cole believes that a significant transfer overhaul may be needed in summer in order to expedite the arrival of that new era. The former Liverpool and Chelsea player warned that the contract situations could make for an especially busy window:
“Liverpool will be thinking that Trent Alexander-Arnold is going to leave, and I think that winning the league is a nice way for Mo Salah to go out,” Cole told Paddy Power. “Virgil van Dijk might stay, but you just don’t know.
“A club like Liverpool don’t let these contracts down to the last six months without accepting that they need to go, and they’ll refresh the squad. There will be provisions in place for new players coming in.
“If Trent, Salah and van Dijk leave, they’ll need at least five players coming through the door. You can’t replace like-for like, and they’ll need to strengthen in other areas.”
(Image: Gareth Copley/Getty Images)
If anything, Cole may even be underplaying things here. If all of the out-of-contract trio were to leave, then five signings would go down as a relatively modest summer at Liverpool.
After all, the club would be freeing up at least $1m a week in wages. More importantly, it would be left trying to replicate the impact of three of its most important players, a burden that would need to be spread across multiple signings.
Even if Liverpool anointed three players as the individual heirs to each of Salah, Van Dijk, and Alexander-Arnold, only making two “extra” signings on top of that would go down as fairly unambitious. Again, Slot has hardly made any transfers so far, and this looks like the prime window for him to do so.
Having said that, it’s important to remember that existing Liverpool squad is already excellent: it looks as thought it is about to win the league. Cole was quick to stress that point too.
“They’re going to win the league, and that’s an incredible achievement in any season,” Cole pointed out. “At one point, they looked invincible.
“They’ve had a little run of games where they’ve lost including in the Carabao Cup Final, but it’s still been a sensational season for Arne Slot. Five signings coming in the summer is about right — they’ll spend a lot of money.”
All things considered, that does seem like a relatively fair assessment. One way or another, Liverpool is in for a significant transfer window — one which needs to be navigated very carefully indeed, but without forgetting that the existing team is already the best in the country.
