Following over three months of endless speculation, John W Henry's public confirmation on Monday afternoon that Fenway Sports Group have no plans to sell Liverpool Football Club was a welcome one.
Since The Athletic first broke the news of the Boston-based group's desire to welcome partial investment to Merseyside on November 7, there has been a sense of uncertainty tailing the Reds' efforts on the pitch at Anfield. However, the recent much-needed transparency gives Jurgen Klopp and Liverpool the opportunity to plan ahead for this summer's transfer window with some vital reassurance.
As it happens, June, July and August will perhaps be the biggest months of the German's tenure as he draws up plans to rebuild a second great Liverpool side after an underwhelming Premier League campaign has highlighted some substantial flaws within his side that were possibly hidden during the Reds' hunt for quadruple glory last term.
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Most pressingly for Liverpool to sort out, of course, will be the accumulation of top-class midfielders with Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and James Milner all looking likely to leave Anfield once their contracts expire on July 1. While Anfield officials will almost certainly not take up the clause in Arthur Melo's deal to make his switch from Juventus a permanent one.
But additions at the heart of defence will be just as influential to any future success in L4 with Joel Matip currently in the final 18 months of his and unlikely to extend his stay beyond the summer of 2024.
At 31 years of age, and having enjoyed his most pleasing campaign on Merseyside as he started 42 of the Reds' 63-game quest for quadruple glory last season, the former Cameroon international has struggled for both fitness and form this term and was subsequently dropped for the Reds' two previous outings against Newcastle United and Real Madrid.
After successfully tying Virgil van Dijk and Joe Gomez down to new long-term contracts at Anfield in the summers of 2021 and 2022 respectively and with Ibrahima Konate only 18 months into his Anfield career, a decision to add another promising prodigy to the ranks and future-proof a position that has so often been Liverpool's Achilles heel during the Premier League era is certainly not a foolish one.
RB Leipzig defender Josko Gvardiol is a name that has been most prominently linked with a move as the Reds have struggled at the back this term and subsequently waved goodbye to their water-tight defensive record that underpinned previous Premier League and Champions League winning campaigns.
The defender, who enjoyed a swift rise to stardom during last year's World Cup in Qatar as Croatia claimed an impressive third-place finish, has also been linked with moves to Manchester City and Chelsea.
After initially signing for the Bundesliga outfit in the summer of 2020, the 21-year-old returned from a season-long loan at former club Dinamo Zagreb in 2021 to replace Konate and Dayot Upamecano who had departed the Red Bull Arena to join Liverpool and Bayern Munich respectively.
Since then, though, Gvardiol has gone from strength to strength during his time in the region of Saxony and has seamlessly filled the void left by his French predecessors. Yet his stock has risen further due to displaying immense versatility on the international stage with Croatia when asked to fill in at left-back for Zlatko Dalic's side.
Such factors, combined with manager Marco Rose's eagerness to keep hold of the central defender, means Liverpool will find it costly to do business with the German outfit despite their healthy relationship with the Red Bull institutions due to Gvardiol having four years left on his current deal and set to have a £98m release clause pencilled in from the summer of 2024.
Other left-sided defenders such as Antonio Silva of Benfica and Goncalo Inacio of Sporting CP have been touted with summer switches to Anfield too. At the ages of 19 and 21 respectively and both boasting an adequate amount of Champions League experience during the fledging stages of their careers, a move for either alternative could be a practical option for the Reds to turn to as they look to strengthen their options at the heart of the defence.
Back at the AXA Centre, Liverpool will also have decisions to make on the futures of Rhys Williams and Nat Phillips - who, of course, helped the Reds pull off a remarkable last-gasp pursuit for Champions League football in the spring of 2021 - following a frustrating couple of years in the Anfield shadows.
Jarell Quansah too will fancy his chances of making the step up to the first-team next term after impressing in the early weeks of his loan spell at League One outfit Bristol Rovers and could be in line to profit if either Williams or Phillips complete a move away from Merseyside during the summer.
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