While the focus understandably tends to be on who Liverpool might sign in any given window, the Reds will want to sell well too in order to finance moves and maintain a strong PSR position.
Does that mean losing players that it wants to keep? No, though certain contract situations could dictate some exits. What it does mean is selling cleverly.
Last summer, Liverpool sold Fabio Carvalho and Sepp van den Berg to Brentford for what was an excellent combined total of around $56 million (£43 million). That looked like a good deal for Liverpool at the time and nothing has changed on that front since. Neither player was likely to feature much under Arne Slot.
A year on, sporting director Richard Hughes can conduct some similar business with some fringe players looking likely candidates to repeat the trick. Liverpool won’t do deals on the cheap, but could substantially bolster its coffers with ease.
Caoimhin Kelleher has previously made it clear that he wants to play more regularly. His contract expires in 2026 and a move away this summer makes sense, with Giorgi Mamardashvili already having been signed from Valencia.
“I’ve made it clear in the last few years that I want to go and be a number one and play week in, week out,” Kelleher said in September. “The club’s made the decision to get another goalkeeper and from the outside looking in, it looks like they’ve made a decision to go in a different direction.”
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Ben Doak, currently on loan at Middlesbrough, has drawn interest from Premier League clubs including Crystal Palace and Ipswich Town (though the latter won’t be in the top flight come the summer), with Liverpool demanding a fee of around $39 million (£30 million) for his services.
Tyler Morton, who is sidelined with an injury at the moment, was linked with a move to Bayer Leverkusen last summer. Since then, he has only played 281 minutes of action, making the bench in the Premier League eight times without entering the field. In the Champions League dead rubber with PSV, James McConnell was preferred in the starting XI, and most of his game time this season has come at U21 level.
With Milos Kerkez, the Bournemouth left-back, being touted for a move and that position appearing to be one where Liverpool could upgrade, it seems likely that one of Kostas Tsimikas or Andy Robertson would have to move on to make space. And while Wataru Endo is in no rush to leave, if another midfielder comes in, his minutes would be even more limited.
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The Liverpool attack is more difficult to predict in terms of who might depart, but Darwin Nunez is surely a prime candidate. Saudi Arabian teams were interested in January and he has struggled to nail down a place under Arne Slot, being a moments player rather than someone nailed-on to start.
Diogo Jota’s injuries have hampered him, Luis Diaz is sporadically linked with an exit for Barcelona, Federico Chiesa is happy on Merseyside but has barely played, and Mohamed Salah — though he wouldn’t bring in a transfer fee — has a contract that is soon to expire.
In Kelleher, Doak and Morton alone, though, Liverpool should be able to bring in something close to $90 million (£70 million). And it stands to reason that each of those fringe players could move on for decent money even before you get to some of those expected to bring in heftier sums.
