Liverpool’s upturn in fortunes over the past decade can be largely attributed to a combination of the miraculous management of Jurgen Klopp and the efficient yet frugal work from the recruitment team.
Signings like Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Andrew Robertson all on comparatively small fees have helped turn the club into one of Europe’s most feared sides once more despite maintaining a net spend far below their domestic and continental rivals.
Fenway Sports Group have regularly come under fire for the tight grip they keep on the club’s purse strings in the transfer window, although such modesty has helped create one of England’s most financially sustainable sides while others in the league continue to drop further into monetary peril.
Liverpool set for major PSR hit
Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR) have always seemed a foreign issue to Liverpool. In recent years, the club has received big fees for the likes of Philippe Coutinho and Fabinho, while the shrewd departures of Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg last summer – both for fees of around or over £25 million – netted the club a healthy profit.
Despite this, one football expert believes the club could be set to lose out on as much as £100 million in PSR value ahead of what promises to be a transformative window for the league leaders in the transfer market.
According to Dave Powell, chief business of football writer for Reach PLC, the Merseyside giants will miss out on a £100+ million fee from Trent Alexander-Arnold’s reported move to Real Madrid this summer as he nears the end of his contract.
“Should Trent Alexander-Arnold exit Liverpool this summer then there is a pretty big void for the Reds to fill, and one that hasn’t had the benefit of a big slice of incoming funds from a sale to aid it,” said Powell in the Liverpool Echo.
“He is, after all, one of the world’s best in his position, has a unique skill set that has been so instrumental in Liverpool’s success, and he is 26, meaning he has plenty of road left to travel and in his prime. Pinning down how much a player earns often involves a considerable amount of guesswork.”
To make matters worse, any fee from a sale of the defender would have counted as ‘pure profit’ on the accounting books, allowing for far more wiggle room in the budget for new signings.
The club now face the prospect of replacing three of their best players – with Alexander-Arnold, Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk all approaching the end of their current deals – without any compensation to reinvest in players capable of matching the immense impact the trio have on the current squad.
FourFourTwo understands that while Alexander-Arnold’s exit is an issue for the Reds, another player leaving might actually offset the lost capital.
Harvey Elliott has been underutilised by Slot this term, and as a free signing from Fulham as a teenager, the Reds have the option of offloading the midfielder for pure profit, should they need to raise funds.
Elliott is worth €35m, according to Transfermarkt.
