Liverpool Football Club’s recent spending has been very uncharacteristic.
During the FSG ownership era, or in any period of the club’s history, they have never spent beyond their means. During the Jürgen Klopp era, Liverpool fans were crying out for more money to be spent on signings.
Near misses with Manchester City had fans wondering what the team could have won had they been given the same resources to spend as the Citizens.
However, Klopp still found ways to win trophies, which only added to his reputation as one of the greatest managers in world football at the time.
This meant that when Liverpool spent big in the summer of 2025 after winning the Premier League, many had them down as title favourites.
However, they have yet to be involved in a title race in either season since they started to get their wallets out.
There have been a lot of poor signings, but their lowest profile ones may have turned out to be the best.
Two summers of disappointment in the transfer window
Liverpool spent over £400 million in the summer transfer window, breaking their previous transfer record three times in the same period.
Alexander Isak, Florian Wirtz and Hugo Ekitike all arrived for big fees, all beating the previous records set by Darwin Nuñez. Their summer of incomings did not end there, with Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez also coming in.
However, only Ekitike came out of the first season with his head held high, and even he went through a long spell without scoring. Isak could not get going and spent a good majority of the season either unfit or injured. Wirtz showed his potential, but only in spurts, which was not good enough for the money spent.
Frimpong did not show anywhere near the ability that was shown for Bayer Leverkusen, struggling to defend, failing to keep fit and not showing enough going the other way.
Kerkez had a horrendous start to life at Anfield, and whilst he did show improvement as the season went on, it was still not to the calibre of his predecessor Andy Robertson.
This season has not been any different. Despite his former manager Andoni Iraola coming in to replace the sacked Slot, he has failed to rediscover his form from his time with the Cherries that helped him secure the move.
Isak has been the one player from last season’s transfer window that has seen improvement. He has slightly changed his game and become the ultimate poacher, with eight goals from 14 appearances in all competitions. However, the rest have failed to kick on.
Wirtz has once again shown his talent in patches, but nowhere near the number of times that was expected on his arrival. Frimpong has been a non-factor this season, and his future looks incredibly bleak at the club.
Finding a few gems
Part of Klopp’s success at Liverpool was not signing the biggest names, but instead the right players for the club.
Whilst he did sign Alisson Becker and Virgil van Dijk for big money when at their peaks, the same cannot be said for his other successful signings.
Neither Mohamed Salah, Robertson, Georginio Wijnaldum, Sadio Mané nor Fabinho were household names when they signed for the club. Of course, they were known and seen as good players, but nobody would have ever predicted the impact they would have.
When Klopp arrived in Liverpool, he said: “It's not so important what people think when you come in. It's much more important what people think when you leave”. These players all left as legends of the club.
We have seen two Liverpool players become cult heroes at the club, despite the least fanfare. Liverpool’s struggles to replace Trent Alexander-Arnold were clear to see, with Frimpong struggling, Bradley injured and Dominik Szoboszlai at times filling in at right back.
This summer, they signed Ronald Araújo on loan from FC Barcelona. The Uruguayan was deemed surplus to requirements at the Catalan giants but has become a fan favourite since he arrived.
His physicality has been a big part of his success and he has been a solid part of the right-hand side of the defence. His celebration after scoring in the UEFA Champions League against Villarreal showcased just what the Anfield crowd’s feelings are towards the loanee. His spell with the club so far has led to many Liverpool fans demanding the club make it a permanent move.
Liverpool’s other transfer business excellence comes in the form of Jérémy Jacquet. Signed on a pre-contract agreement with Rennes for £55 million on February 2nd, he made his debut this season and has not missed a beat.
In the space of 12 months, Liverpool lost three quarters of their back four from their title-winning season. Robertson left on a free to Tottenham Hotspur. Both Trent and Ibrahima Konaté did the same but to Real Madrid, albeit the club received an £8.5 million fee from Los Blancos to ensure he could play in the FIFA Club World Cup.
Jacquet has been every bit as good as Konaté and could very easily go on to be a better player for the club than the French international.
Liverpool have shown in the last two seasons that just because you spend money, it does not mean you are automatically guaranteed success. Bradley Barcola is so far showing that since his big move from Paris Saint-Germain, he is very early on in his Anfield career.
With previous regimes in the FSG era proving successful with the method of not just spending the most money and finding some of the best players in the club’s recent history, this perhaps should be a method re-adopted to help bring a third Premier League title or seventh Champions League trophy to the red half of Merseyside.
