Liverpool and Richard Hughes continue down dangerous transfer path

Liverpool are continuing to head down a dangerous transfer path. It's not too late to turn back.

Liverpool's 2024 summer transfer window was remarkable. Arguably, it was even more remarkable than the 2025 one as the new sporting director, Richard Hughes, delivered just one new player for the new head coach, Arne Slot.

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Now, the easy thinking when appointing completely new people to handle a football club's squad would be for them to make some changes for the new ways of thinking. Instead, Liverpool stuck with what they already had - a squad for Jurgen Klopp largely built by Klopp himself.

The sole new player was Federico Chiesa, signed as an opportunistic transfer right at the end of the window to bring more depth. Other than that, it was the exact same squad that Klopp used and it was clear after just a few months that the stability brought from that worked better than any signing.

Liverpool would eventually win the Premier League title in incredible fashion, virtually dominating the league. Tellingly, this is also what happened the last time the club won the title.

They followed their 2019 UEFA Champions League title with a minimal transfer window that then delivered one of the greatest league campaigns in English football history. Stability, consistency and familiarity all seems to be key.

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So with that in mind, what are Liverpool doing?

Liverpool head down a dangerous path

Liverpool reacted to all of this by tearing up the squad in 2025. £200m was brought in through sales, while over £400m went out on new players.

This certainly isn't Klopp's squad anymore. It doesn't look - or play - like the squad that lifted the title under a year ago.

The stability completely left Liverpool over the summer with the mass turnover of players. That's brought notable results in that the team is nowhere near as good.

And yet, all signs point to even more turnover in 2026. Andy Robertson and Ibrahima Konate are both out of contract this summer and don't appear to be getting new deals.

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Joe Gomez was nearly sold last summer. We expect he'll depart after this campaign. Curtis Jones will have one year remaining on his deal after this season and there's an incredible amount of interest in him.

Mo Salah is now linked heavily with a move to Saudi Arabia and signs are pointing to him leaving. Then there's the midfield situation - Liverpool are in the midst of trying to agree new contracts for players as they set about looking at shaking things up.

Alisson Becker will likely see his contract extended by one more year after this summer but Liverpool have already signed his replacement, of course. Giorgi Mamardashvili is waiting in the wings for his big opportunity.

So again, the squad is set for a major overhaul and even more turnover. It's a dangerous path to head down at a time when it feels as though Liverpool desperately need the kind of stability that brought their previous two titles.

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