In hindsight, Liverpool’s summer 2022 transfer business has not aged well.
The Reds parted with an initial £64m, rising to a potential £85m with add-ons, to sign Darwin Nunez from Benfica, but despite establishing himself as a firm fan-favourite, the jury is still out on the Uruguayan. While he scored a respectable 15 goals in his maiden season in England, concerns about his limited grasp of English, subsequent understanding of Jurgen Klopp’s demands, and how suited he actually is to start for Liverpool continue.
Cody Gakpo’s seamless transition into a long-term replacement for Roberto Firmino following his mid-season arrival from PSV Eindhoven has only prompted further scrutiny on Nunez, even if there remains a quietly confident expectation that his second season at Anfield will be more fruitful than his first. Yet despite such murmurings, the striker remains the only ‘success story’ from 12 months ago.
Calvin Ramsay played just twice after an injury-wrecked first season at the club, and has just joined Championship side Preston North End on loan for the season, while Fabio Carvalho is also expected to depart after featuring for just nine minutes in the Premier League and Champions League after the mid-season World Cup in Qatar. Reportedly not part of Klopp’s plans for next season, the German has admitted the Portuguese is available for loan, though RB Leipzig have tested the Reds’ resolve with a rejected permanent bid.
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And then there’s Arthur Melo, the Juventus loanee brought in out of desperation on transfer deadline day after injuries elsewhere forced Liverpool to move for a midfielder, despite spending all summer long insisting they did not need to strengthen their engine-room further. He made just one 13-minute substitute appearance against Napoli in the Champions League, before a thigh injury, which required surgery, which ruled him out for four months.
The Brazil international wouldn’t feature following his return as he was denied a Premier League debut, with it abundantly clear the Reds were never going to activate the clause in his temporary contract to sign the former Barcelona man permanently.
Having missed out on Aurelien Tchouameni to Real Madrid, before opting not to sign a new midfielder in favour of waiting for Jude Bellingham, such a decision did not age well as Liverpool missed out on Champions League qualification while withdrawing from the race to sign the Borussia Dortmund star in April. Looking back, it’s enough to leave Kopites pulling their hair out.
At least the Reds have moved quickly to start to address such midfield concerns this summer, signing Alexis Mac Allister from Brighton & Hove Albion for an undisclosed fee, reported to be in the region of £35m, within two weeks of the season ending. The World Cup winner will not be the only new summer arrival.
But for all the criticism Liverpool’s transfer decisions last summer have faced, change the perspective slightly and the Reds have actually been rather successful. After all, over the past 18 months the club have done the near-impossible by revamping a previously untouchable attack.
Ever since Mohamed Salah was first partnered with Sadio Mane and Firmino in 2017, Liverpool’s front-line has been the most-feared in Europe. Returning a combined 417 goals and 184 assists for the Reds, the trio won every major prize going at Anfield.
Yet after being crowned champions of England, Europe, and the world in 2019 and 2020, Liverpool’s gradual succession plan started with the arrival of Diogo Jota from Wolves. Fast forward two years and, with Salah, Mane, and Firmino all the wrong side of 30 and scheduled to be out of contract in the summer of 2023, the Reds signed Luis Diaz, Nunez, and Gakpo in successive transfer windows.
While the jury might be out on Nunez, with last summer’s business underwhelming, in this attacking company onlookers will be rather more forgiving. Throw in new long-term contracts for Salah and Jota and Klopp’s attacking options look stronger than ever for the foreseeable.
Diaz might have missed most of last season with a knee injury, but there can be no disputing the impact of the Columbian and Gakpo as replacements for Mane and Firmino as Liverpool forged a new-look attack. Meanwhile, there is no doubt that the Reds made the right decision in retaining Salah’s services out of the three.
After all, after being made the highest-paid player in the club’s history last summer, Salah delivered yet another 30-goal season. Throw in his 16 assists and his 46 goal contributions was the second-best return of his career. An ever-present in both the Premier League and Champions League, he featured in all but one of Liverpool’s 52 matches in 2022/23 as his availability was impeccable once again.
In contrast, Mane, who left for Bayern Munich last summer, and Firmino, who has just departed at the end of his contract, both suffered injury woes last year. The Senegalese started 27 of his 38 appearances as he fell out of favour with the Bundesliga giants, and is expected to be sold after just one season.
As for the Brazilian, having also suffered with injury in 2021/22, he started 18 of his 35 outings. Meanwhile, the two 31 year olds returned 12 and 13 goals respectively, along with six and five assists as they trailed Salah on each front.
Of course, they trailed the Egyptian across the board during the entirety of their overlapping Anfield careers, as supporters regularly debated which of the trio was the best and most important player.
Before Mane’s Anfield exit, Salah had 156 goals and 58 assists from 254 appearances. Across the same five-year period, his fellow African boasted 107 goals and 31 assists from 240 appearances, with Firmino registering 75 goals and 50 assists from 237 appearances. Looking back with their records laid out as such, it is no contest when it comes to debating which of the trio Liverpool should retain into their veteran years. The Egyptian has always been the one who was available more, scored more, and set up more.
But, having sufficiently replaced Mane and Firmino, that means that the most impossible transfer is still to come when the time comes to replace Salah, who celebrates his 31st birthday today.
The Egyptian is under-contract for a further two seasons courtesy of last summer’s extension, with his latest 30-goal haul ensuring he is showing no signs of slowing down.
With Zlatan Ibrahimovic only just retiring at AC Milan at the age 41, Luka Modric and Robert Lewandowski still going strong in La Liga, and Lionel Messi, Karim Benzema, Cristiano Ronaldo and Luis Suarez all thriving in major European leagues well into their mid-30s prior to recent moves to Saudi Arabia, South America, and USA, there is no reason why Salah can’t continue to do the same for the Reds.
Yet, linked with a move to Saudi Arabia himself, there is no escaping that soon rather than later, the time will come where Liverpool will need to start considering life after the Egyptian King. Whether that comes in 2025 or he is handed a fresh extension, only time will tell.
In truth, the Reds will again be ‘treated’ to a rare glimpse of life with Salah in January when the forward flies off for Africa Cup of Nations duty once more. In 2022, he missed six games as Egypt reached the final, before suffering a noticeable loss of form following his return.
Diogo Jota, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Takumi Minamino, and Kaide Gordon all started on the right in Salah’s absence last year. Yet while the Portuguese remains an option, the former Arsenal man has just left at the end of his contract, the Japanese was sold to AS Monaco last summer, and the teenager hasn’t played since February 2022 because of injury.
Last season, Harvey Elliott also took up the mantle in the rare absence of the Egyptian. When AFCON takes place in Ivory Coast in January and February, you’d expect the England Under-21s international and Jota to share the burden of covering for Salah, though Diaz is also an option. Should he be back in first team contention after a lengthy injury, Gordon too could come back into contention, though highly-rated youngster Ben Doak, a contender himself, has arguably usurped him on the waiting list.
It is partly because of Doak why Liverpool won’t look to sign a new forward this summer, despite Firmino’s exit. Despite still being just 17, the Reds don’t want to block the path and progress of the teenage right-winger. While not the only highly-rated forward in the club’s Academy ranks, the Scotland Under-21s international is arguably the one that carries highest hopes on his shoulders and could emerge as a long-term Salah replacement.
With Liverpool not yet needing to step up a search just yet, they’ll instead focus on their ongoing midfield revamp after already signing Alexis Mac Allister. Beyond that, a left-sided centre-back is next on their radar as they essentially start looking for Virgil van Dijk’s own future successor.
One can only hope such transfer surgery proves to be as successful as the Reds’ recent attacking overhaul. Then, when the time to replace Salah finally sneaks up, club bosses will face their toughest challenge yet. Candidates from within are already emerging, but if Liverpool need to look outside when the time comes, they can only hope that their next ‘impossible transfer’ also proves to be anything but.
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