It’s a brutal industry staying on top of the Premier League. Liverpool’s title winners are enjoying the moment right now, but Arne Slot could be lining four of them up for the chopping board.
There is a thin line to tread. Slot knows better than most the importance of not ripping things up for the sake of it, having just won the league with more or less the exact team he inherited from Jurgen Klopp — the one signing, Federico Chiesa, has not even played enough to automatically qualify for a winner’s medal yet.
And yet standing still is similarly treacherous. There’s still a slight lingering sense of regret that Liverpool signed only Sepp van den Berg the summer after winning the Champions League, with the subsequent league title proving to be something of a last hurrah for a number of players reaching the end of their peak years.
By all accounts, FSG is keen not to repeat that mistake. Virgil van Dijk has talked up an exciting summer, and media accounts back that up.
Most recently, the Telegraph has claimed that Liverpool could have one of its biggest “war chests” ever. A new striker and a new left-back are the two top priorities.
There is no set budget. However, the exact amount available will depend on outgoings, and four players are mentioned as being available.
Unsurprisingly, Slot is ready to part ways with Darwin Nunez. It was a sign of ambition to keep him in January, a decision he repaid with a game-winning brace against Brentford, but more Saudi interest in the summer would be gratefully received.
Recouping anything like the potential record fee it paid would clearly set Liverpool up for an even bigger summer. While even an unlimited budget might not be enough to tempt Newcastle into selling Alexander Isak, moving Nunez on surely paves the way for a marquee addition.
Meanwhile, Joe Gomez and Kostas Tsimikas are said to be up for sale as well. The latter makes sense, with Liverpool keen on strengthening at left-back — and while letting Gomez go without signing any new center-backs would have to go down as risky, injuries have severely limited his involvement under Slot to date.
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Finally, Ben Doak is mentioned in the same section. It’s not 100 per cent clear whether the Telegraph is saying that Liverpool will be open to permanent offers, but interest is certainly expected, and there would be a chance to make a major profit.
Doak is still only 19, and was excelling on loan in the Championship before injury ended his season. Letting him go would require a brutal call about his eventual ceiling — but that’s not to say it would necessarily be the wrong decision, especially with various safeguards like sell-on and buy-back clauses.
And if this quartet are potentially up for sale, there’s a whole host of others for whom Liverpool may well have some transfer bids to consider. Saudi Arabia might yet come for Diogo Jota as well as Nunez, Luis Diaz has suitors too, and Caoimhin Kelleher will be allowed to move on if the club’s significant $33.5 million valuation is met.
That’s not to mention Chiesa, who only arrived last summer but has made minimal impact. There’s even Harvey Elliott; he won’t be actively up for sale, but his limited opportunities will have put many clubs on alert.
Clearly, not all of these players will leave. But even just a few of them going would set Liverpool up for a pretty significant shake-up — after continuity won Slot his first title, he might be betting on change to secure a second.
