After spending £450m last summer, Liverpool are facing more transition

The uncertainty does not end there.

Mohamed Salah is scheduled to return to the Liverpool squad this week after Egypt’s Africa Cup of Nations campaign, with his pre-tournament outburst against Arne Slot dictating that no one seems to be quite sure whether this is the start of a long goodbye, in which he will leave before next season.

Reinforcements on the right would be a priority then, especially if, as seems likely given he barely plays, Federico Chiesa departs after the end of the campaign.

If Jeremie Frimpong is earmarked for one of those two slots, then Liverpool surely require a right back.

Should Konaté leave on a free transfer, are two new centre backs needed allowing for the reluctance to give Joe Gomez minutes which is, in part, due to his fitness issues? Are two necessary regardless?

Is the current midfield ready to push to reclaim the title next season or does it need strengthening? Will Curtis Jones, who had been attracting interest from Tottenham Hotspur, feel it is time to be more of a guaranteed starter somewhere?

Kostas Tsimikas is due to return from a loan spell with Roma and may become back-up to Milos Kerkez if Robertson departs when his contract expires in five months. But that is not a long-term solution. Like Gomez and Virgil Van Dijk, Tsimikas’ contract is up in 2027.

There are a lot of questions, some of which could be expensive to answer.

And that is before we get to the future of Slot — who heard the final whistle on Saturday followed by boos — sporting director Richard Hughes and the CEO of football for Liverpool owner Fenway Sports Group, Michael Edwards. They all have 18 months left to run on their contracts.

Oh, and there’s also a set-piece coach to appoint.

What can be said with certainty is this apparent state of flux is not what Liverpool were expecting when spending almost £450 million six months ago. The sense then was having gone big once in the market, they would not have to make a huge splash again and Slot would maximise his players’ potential.

Of course, further additions would be needed as a squad evolves over time, but looking at the breadth of work that Liverpool may have to undertake is sobering. How would not qualifying for the Champions League, and the finances that unlocks, affect all that?

They had banked on receiving £35 million from Aston Villa for Harvey Elliott, having bent over backwards to help the Midlands club structure a loan with a purchase obligation dependent on appearances. Since then, Elliott has been marginalised and an error by Villa will leave Liverpool seeking another buyer for a player whose valuation will hardly be enhanced by a season of inactivity.

In many ways, it has been a curious 18 months of ins, outs and near-misses.

Notwithstanding the fact that Alexander Isak, the £125million centrepiece of last summer’s spree, has not adjusted to life at Anfield yet for a variety of reasons [not least a broken leg], there are growing signs his fellow new recruits will prove good signings.

Florian Wirtz was expensive at a potential £116million fee, but he has four goals in six games, Hugo Ekitike has been a hit, Kerkez is making forward strides and Frimpong is showing promise.

Yet Liverpool also missed out on Martín Zubimendi in the summer of 2024, and could see the midfielder help Arsenal succeed them as champions, while Guéhi’s switch to City comes less than five months after he was in a scanner having a medical on a £35million move to Anfield.

Guéhi was never Liverpool’s priority centre-back signing last summer. That was Giovanni Leoni, the teenager from Parma, who suffered an ACL injury on his debut to wreck his season.

But it is clear Liverpool hoped Guéhi would recognise the efforts they had made to sign him before Palace co-owner and chairman Steve Parish pulled the plug on a deal on deadline day and, in turn, waited for them until the summer.

The flipside of that is that Liverpool are not as attractive a proposition now as they were then for any player.

City’s reputed wage offer of £300,000 a week, in addition to paying an initial £20million fee, was a deal Liverpool were unwilling to match financially. They had no intention of bidding this month.

As with everything, it is what Liverpool do next that is the most important factor. Sorting out the centre-back situation, however, suddenly feels just one of a number of issues that need resolving.

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