The focus on Liverpool’s work in the transfer market is often fixed upon those arriving at Anfield, but the club have quietly established quite a reputation for selling too.
Liverpool ’s former sporting director Michael Edwards and current recruitment chief Julian Ward have been widely praised for their successful transfer strategy under the ownership of Fenway Sports Group. The duo have overseen the strengthening of Jurgen Klopp’s side over the past five years or so. They have spent lots of money in a very successful fashion.
That work has been underpinned by a similarly successful sales strategy, with funds frequently made available by moving on fringe players or valuable young players not needed by Klopp. A good example of the Reds’ tactics in the market will be made official soon in the form of Neco Williams’ sale to Nottingham Forest .
Liverpool are set to earn £17million for the Wales international, who is a talented full-back but is stuck behind Trent Alexander-Arnold in the pecking order at Anfield. Williams spent the second half of last season on loan with Fulham and his brilliant performances saw his market value sky-rocket.
The 21-year-old will sign a five-year contract with Forest after completing a medical earlier this week. Liverpool will receive an initial fee of £12m, plus £5m in performance-related add-ons, according to Goal .
Williams has only made 33 senior appearances for Liverpool yet will pull in a sizable transfer fee which can be put to use later in this window, or banked for a later date. His move is indicative of Liverpool’s success in the sales department, because he is far from the first example of such a move .
HAVE YOUR SAY! Have you been impressed by Liverpool's transfer strategy? Comment below.
This summer, Liverpool have also managed to sell Takumi Minamino to Monaco for £15.5m . Last season had plenty of other good sales too: Harry Wilson to Fulham for £12m and Taiwo Awoniyi to Union Berlin for £6.5m, which got even sweeter when the German side subsequently sold him onto Forest for £17.5m, handing Liverpool a further £1.75m due to a sell-on fee.
Last summer, Liverpool sold Marko Grujic – a player who made zero impact whosoever at the club – to Porto for £10.5m. They made £10m for Dejan Lovren in 2020 from Zenit St Petersburg, despite him being unwanted. Rewind further and there is the £20m sale of Danny Ings to Southampton, the £19m sale of Dominic Solanke to Bournemouth in 2019 and the £16m sale of Jordon Ibe to Bournemouth in 2016.
These sorts of sales are important because they mean that, despite spending big fees on the likes of Virgil van Dijk, Alisson and Darwin Nunez, Liverpool are still doing well in terms of net spend. A study by the CIES Football Observatory earlier this year placed the Reds 14th in Europe in terms of negative net spend over the previous decade. So while Manchester United racked up an astonishing negative net spend of £908m from 2012 to 2022, Liverpool’s stood at just a third of that, at £293m.
Liverpool have put Nat Phillips and Ben Davies up for sale this summer and will hope to continue their streak of selling unwanted fringe players for decent transfer fees. Given their record, you wouldn’t put it past them.
