With Liverpool closing in on the Premier League title there is a lot to ponder on the future makeup of the champions-elect, who could look very different next season.
The old adage says build from a position of strength but…rebuild?
Liverpool find themselves in an unusual position. On the cusp of a second league title in five years, they have nine games to negotiate to clinch a championship as unlikely as it would be glorious.
Yet rather than signal the start of a dynasty, it could just as easily mark the end of an era.
Jurgen Klopp‘s final few months at Anfield were lazily labelled ‘The Last Dance’. In actuality, we may be watching that unfold now, with several totemic figures of the German’s reign seemingly about to follow in his footsteps and exit stage left.
It’s a frightening prospect but heading into the summer the futures of as many as 11 first-teamers are up in the air. While there’s surely no scenario where all depart the football club in one off-season, a degree of churn now seems inevitable.
A failure to both renew contracts and replenish the squad in recent windows has given the higher-ups quite the to-do list. As a result, there’s every chance Liverpool enter 2025/26 as defending but depleted champions.
Whether you consider that mismanagement or a calculated risk, it’s unprecedented.
Contract sagas
The futures of ‘the big three’ – as they’ve become known – have cast a long shadow over this campaign. That Arne Slot has managed to quieten the noise and extract so much from at least two of that trio is quite remarkable.
But make no mistake, that murmur is going to rise to a cacophony in the coming weeks.
As the individual sagas have dragged on supporters have clung to the fact Virgil van Dijk and Mo Salah have been forthcoming with their intentions.
Having publicly stated their desires to stay, fans naively expected the money side to be thrashed out in time. But time is ticking, and no breakthroughs appear imminent.
Given talks have been ongoing since July – if not earlier – the lack of progress is startling. That no side seems prepared to cede an inch means Kopites must brace themselves for the doomsday scenario.
At this stage, all three leaving on free transfers is surely the likeliest outcome.
And boy will FSG have their work cut out then. Spinning this as anything but a disaster will be damage control akin to restoring Liz Truss’ reputation.
In terms of pure recruitment, replacing the leadership of Van Dijk, the creativity of Trent Alexander-Arnold and the numbers of Salah won’t come cheap – particularly with no fees accrued for any of them. Realistically, it’s impossible.
But theirs aren’t the only contracts demanding attention…
Deciding when to cash in
It hasn’t garnered anywhere near as much coverage but, back in January, Ibrahima Konate confirmed he’d been offered new terms by the club.
Pressed on whether he’d accept those he stated “that’s another conversation.”
This sounded ominous at the time and is even more worrisome in the wake of recent links to Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain. The Frenchman’s current deal runs until 2026, meaning he’ll soon enter the same space occupied by the big three for the whole of this year.
Surely Liverpool won’t countenance Konate leaving for nothing if potential transfer fees have eluded them for his three team-mates.
Does that push him closer to the exit door? If lessons have been learned, clarity will be sought before pre-season.
Looking further ahead, Andy Robertson is another contracted until June of next year. To his credit, the Scot has rediscovered some form in recent weeks, but he has certainly endured an up-and-down season.
The expectation is that a new left-back will be signed to increase competition, with Bournemouth‘s Milos Kerkez strongly linked.
Does Robertson settle for being second choice? Slot might hope so given the relative levels of Robertson and his current rival for that berth, Kostas Tsimikas.
But the Reds’ No. 26 is fiercely competitive and proud to captain his country. There’s no guarantee he’ll accept a supporting role, calling his future into question.
The upshot? Nobody can say for sure whether any of our first-choice back four will be at the club next season. In fact, make that a back five…
Goalkeeping decision
Alisson‘s current deal runs until 2026, with an option to extend to 2027, but the arrival of Giorgi Mamardashvili is imminent.
The Georgian stopper was signed for £29 million last summer but stayed with Valencia for 2024/25 as a means of sweeting the deal.
That’s a big outlay, particularly for owners as miserly as FSG. Surely then the expectation is he’s coming in to be No. 1? The player himself has recently confirmed that is the aim.
So what does that mean for the current incumbent who continues to throw in heroic displays like that seen at the Parc des Princes?
A cynical view might be that Liverpool hope to offload him to Saudi Arabia, bringing in a sizeable transfer fee and freeing up wages among the club’s highest earners.
While it’s fair to assume Slot – so far starved of signings – will want to build his own squad, it’s doubtful the Dutchman would want to overhaul his entire back line in one window.
He may have little choice.
Forward thinking
If Liverpool’s midfield appears relatively stable, the front line will surely undergo some serious surgery in the coming months.
Right now, their game plan is geared towards one man. All patterns of play are designed to get Salah on the ball in dangerous areas.
That’s why Dominik Szoboszlai is so often seen breaking his neck to overlap the Egyptian on the right side. It’s why Alexander-Arnold isn’t nearly as inverted as he was in Klopp’s final season.
It’s a tactic that’s certainly paid dividends. Salah is in the midst of what could become a legendary season and responsible for 63.8 percent of the team’s league goals.
His potential departure then would impinge not just on potency but approach. It’s doubtful one player could replace the goals and assists posted by our talisman. Two may not even equal those feats.
A restructuring of the forward line would be required in an attempt to get more out of others.
Just who that supporting cast consists of however is anyone’s guess. Darwin Nunez is surely heading for the exit, providing he can find it, but rumours also persist around Luis Diaz.
Every window links to Barcelona circulate, fuelled in large part by his own father. Now 28 and with two years left on his deal, this might be the right time to part amicably.
The Colombian has certainly played his part this season but, despite threatening to, has never broken through the glass ceiling and posted numbers comparable to Salah or Sadio Mane before him.
And that contribution from out wide is vital if we plan to replicate the tactics deployed this season heading into next. Why? Because the demands placed on our No. 9 have changed.
While Nunez is fundamentally flawed, he was at least a constant goal threat under the previous manager. The same was true of Diogo Jota.
Right now, neither look like scoring. It’s not a case of them squandering chances as such – more they are seldom being presented with them. This points to a tactical shift and it’s one both are struggling with.
There is also a nagging suspicion Jota’s injuries have caught up with him, as they did Daniel Sturridge. The Portuguese had made a habit of hitting the ground running following layoffs but has looked way off the pace since returning to the side from his most recent muscle problem.
Once again, his deal runs until June 2027. If Liverpool are going to cash in and make decent money, now might be the time.
Throw in Caoimhin Kelleher (surely craving first-team football) and Harvey Elliott (likewise) and that totals 11 players heading into the summer with their futures unknown.
If even half of those depart, Liverpool have an almighty rebuild on their hands.
Turning the page
Never before have champions-elect closed in on the prize with so much uncertainty surrounding the future of that team.
Even the Leicester side of 2015/16, who many expected to be pilfered, held onto all but N’Golo Kante – and were confident of doing so.
Title wins are meant to provide a springboard for sustained success. In our case, it is more likely to trigger a reset.
If Liverpool do the decent thing and finish the job, the celebrations will be long and wild. But when the dust settles there will be an understandable nervousness about what comes next.
Failures at various levels, from the owners down, have created this vacuum. In his last season Klopp spoke about a Liverpool 2.0. That could in fact be born from title 20.
In many ways it would be fitting if the German attended any victory parade because this would truly mark the end of a chapter started by him and finished by his successor.
Turning the page will prove difficult, in more ways than one.
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