Since the summer of 2018 when they signed goalkeeper Alisson Becker, midfielder Fabinho and Naby Keita and winger Xherdan Shaqiri, Liverpool have been very cautious when spending in the transfer market. They made no first-team signings last summer and still managed to win the Premier League for the first time in three decades, adding only attacking midfielder Takumi Minamino for around £7 million in January. They followed that up with the acquisition of left-back Kostas Tsimikas for around £12m last month.
They’ve recently been heavily linked with Bayern Munich midfielder Thiago Alcantara, but nothing has happened on that front as of yet.
Nonetheless, according to the Independent journalist Melissa Reddy, Liverpool are wary of the core of the team that enjoyed so much success in the last two seasons entering their declining years at the same time. Captain Jordan Henderson is 30, Virgil van Dijk and Barcelona-linked Georginio Wijnaldum are both 29, Roberto Firmino will be 29 in October, Sadio Mane and Mohamed Salah turn 29 next year.
The club are apparently working around the clock on identifying long-term successors for these players.
Further more, there is always the possibility that some of them, being happy with what they’ve achieved on Merseyside, would want to leave in search of new challenges. In that case, Liverpool would be prepared to sell, but only for a large fee(s) which would enable them to suitably replace the departing player(s). Otherwise, big-money signings are not to be expected.
In January 2018, they sold Philippe Coutinho to Barcelona for £142m, and that money proved enough for the signings of Van Dijk, Alisson and Fabinho after which the team, achieving a better balance, went on and won the biggest trophies in club football.
It’s also worth remembering that Liverpool invested around £120m in the redevelopment of Anfield’s Main Stand a few years ago, that they’re currently planning a similar project for the Anfield Road stand. They’re also going through a redevelopment of their Academy facilities at Kirkby which is said to require another £50m.
