The recent transfer window closed with Liverpool ignoring the present situation to strengthen the future, raising a number of questions…
I ENJOYED listening to Neil’s chat with Rory Smith this week.
I’ll get straight to the crux of the conversation because it’s something I’ve frequently pondered in recent months: When are Liverpool planning to win for, if not now?
What was the plan Arne Slot, Richard Hughes and Michael Edwards settled on post Liverpool 5 Tottenham 1 last spring? What was presented to John Henry and Mike Gordon? How did it impact the strategy for transfers?
At the time it looked pretty straightforward: Liverpool were preparing for their own era of dominance. At the very least, they were creating a scenario for back-to-back titles and Champions League success.
Nothing was directly briefed about the club’s ambitions. Perhaps it should have been. Especially when gaps in the squad started to appear. Soundbites around Liverpool’s satisfaction with both their defensive and attacking options were offered up, including the namechecked Joe Gomez, Giovanni Leoni, Federico Chiesa and Rio Ngumoha as viable first-team options and strength-in-depth signifiers.
This was to mitigate not signing Marc Guehi and, to an extent, losing Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez. Was Alexander Isak a market opportunity too good to turn down? That would explain why he breaks the mould of transfer compared to most the club do, but everything about his protracted and record-breaking move suggests not.
The question remains: what were the aims for this season on August 1 2025? How much of this was curtailed by the impact of Diogo Jota’s death is a real, live factor in this conversation. We have no idea how much that shifted things or how people were simply trying to come to terms with the reality of his passing while also trying to plan ahead.
Recent talk of future planning at Liverpool was only bolstered by the signing of Jeremy Jacquet from Rennes this summer. Look at where this squad will be in 2028, we’re hearing.
Building for the future in a manner which impacts the present has become a settled-on theme rather than a stated intention. This is important. I don’t want to look for press conference snippets or have to dig through a Standard Chartered sponsored round table with the head coach, sporting director and CEO. I’d rather someone came out and owned what we’re actually aspiring to and what timeline is in place. If we’re being asked to climb the mountain again, I want to know what the terrain is like for this particular trek.
Because I, like you, have some questions. Most notably, what do players like Dominik Szoboszlai think of this sudden ‘win later’ mood music? Szoboszlai is a prime example of a player who needs to win now. He doesn’t want to spend his mid 20’s dependent on Leoni’s injury recovery or Ngumoha’s development, with all due respect.
It also asks the question of what was said to and by Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk during negotiations last year. Were they both willing to sacrifice key years in their twilight to do the relevant maintenance and start again?
The answer might be yes, and that would please me in lots of ways, but I just don’t see it.
Van Dijk rightly stated this could still be a ‘very special season’ in an interview with Gary Neville this week, and he’s right.
An FA Cup shouldn’t be sniffed at, while a good Champions League draw or two would have many of us basketing those flights to Budapest.
Regardless of what the aim was, or where Liverpool eventually end up, this season will be an opportunity lost.
Opta’s supercomputer recently predicted the current Premier League final points tallies with Arsenal first (82.02 points), Manchester City second (71.41 points) and Aston Villa third (71.18 points).
I’d have bitten the proverbial hand-off for this in August because I believed this side had the ability to perform comfortably into the mid-80s region.
Ultimately, I remain someone who takes this club and its decision-making in good faith. I back the minds of Slot, Edwards and Hughes. I am pro-FSG and how they run this football club.
I guess, maybe naively, I believe in a greater purpose that will become apparent to all of us sooner than not.
The question, now more than ever, is when?
