Premier League Preview: Liverpool | OneFootball

Last year’s finish: 1stFirst match: Friday, August 15th @ 3:00pm ET vs. BournemouthWhere they’ll be five games in: 13 points on 4W, 1D

Transfer News

In a word: expensive.

After securing two talismanic figures (Virgil van Dijk and Mohamad Salah) into multi-year contracts prior to the window, Liverpool has said farewell to a number of familiar faces. Homegrown product Trent Alexander-Arnold departed on a free; the Reds collected $13.3M to release him early to Real Madrid. Trent wasn’t the only homegrown defender they sold: Jarell Quansah went to Bayer Leverkussen for $40M. Luis Díaz went to Bayern Munich for $87M. Perennial back-up goalkeeper Caoimhín Kelleher will be bound for Brentford and first-team starts at $16.6M.

$159.6M of profit is usually enough for any club in a season, but Liverpool aren’t a normal club. With an ageing team, and the two previous seasons of transfer restraint, they have unleashed the spending hounds. For five players, they have spent $385M – more money than the GDP of the island-nation of Palau. The five are: Florian Wirtz (Bayer Leverkussen), Hugo Ekiteké (Enitracht Frankfurt), Miloš Kerkez (Bournemouth), Jeremie Frimpong (Bayer Leverkussen), Giorgi Mamardashvili (Valencia).

And Liverpool aren’t even done. They’ve made no secret that they want Newcastle’s Alexander Isak to ditch the black and white in favor of red. They’ve even offered over $150M for the Swedish striker, only to be rebuffed. This drama will continue to unfold.

Season Outlook

As defending champions, Liverpool have a target on their back every time they step on the pitch. Add onto that the extraordinary summer spending and anything less than raising the cup a second time will be a BIG let down. There’s no doubt Arne Slot did an incredible job last season, but this will be his true litmus test. Juggling the Prem, Champions League, expectations and some new egos in the locker room will test the Dutchman’s managerial acumen.

Key Players

It’s an embarrassment of riches with this Liverpool side. Most of their second-stringers could be starters for other teams. But your starting eleven is likely to be:

Other Bits

We all know how difficult it is to repeat as Champions. With Manchester City, Chelsea, and Arsenal all making major moves in the offseason, this will be one fascinating campaign for the Reds.