A campaign to forget for Liverpool concludes on Sunday afternoon when they travel to already-relegated Southampton for their final match of the Premier League season.
Regardless of the result on the South Coast, Liverpool know they will be playing in UEFA's second-tier competition from September onwards, with seven wins from their last 10 games not enough to secure the latest of late qualifications for next season's Champions League at the expense of either Manchester United or Newcastle United.
With that in mind, the imminent arrival of Bundesliga veteran Jorg Schmadtke highlights how swiftly those at Anfield are moving behind the scenes to ensure a first Europa League campaign since 2016 is nothing more than a mere blot on Jurgen Klopp's extraordinary European record since succeeding Brendan Rodgers in the autumn of 2015.
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