Liverpool Reloaded, Jurgen Klopp had termed them. Liverpool Reinvented, he described them a few weeks later. It has been a two-tier, two-year process. If this has been the summer of the midfielder – four in, six out – then 2022 was the year of the attacker. Three signings were arranged, with Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez joining and Cody Gakpo agreeing a deal that was ratified in January 2023, while Diogo Jota and Mohamed Salah signed new contracts. If a window of evolution in the centre of the park was planned, it became a time of revolution. Exit what Klopp termed the most successful midfield in Liverpool’s recent past and enter Alexis Mac Allister in June, Dominik Szoboszlai in July, Wataru Endo in August and now Ryan Gravenberch in September. While Liverpool rejected a £150m bid from Al-Ittihad for Salah, they have spent £150m on the midfield.
“We pretty much had to reinvent the team,” Klopp reflected. “The midfield is already and will be completely new. Over the last few years, we had to do the same with our front line. The most stable area is obviously the last line but now not with injuries and suspensions.”
