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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Paul Gorst

Mohamed Salah contract, Jude Bellingham and what's next in Julian Ward's Liverpool masterplan

For a club who often stand accused of inactivity during the transfer window, Liverpool have changed the makeup of their squad considerably in recent years.

Of course, given the steady flow of silverware since 2019, Jurgen Klopp has never felt the need to rip up the blueprints that have guided him throughout his near seven years on Merseyside and given the alterations the champions' wall and the honours' list in that time, those results cannot be argued with.

And while some supporters are continually dismayed by the shallow volume of incomings each summer, that the Reds don't have to bring in a raft of new players year upon year is indicative of a job well done on the pitch.

All too often the term 'strengthening' is assumed to be done simply by new signings. Clubs like Chelsea and Manchester United have shown that not to always be the case in recent years.

READ MORE: Mohamed Salah signs new Liverpool contract

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For example, since 2020, Chelsea have spent around £220m on Timo Werner, Kai Havertz and Romelu Lukaku but have found themselves in the transfer hunt for Raphinha, Raheem Sterling and Richarlison this summer as they look to close the considerable Premier League gap on Liverpool and Manchester City by reconfiguring their attack once more.

United, meanwhile, have been forced to hit the reset button once more as Erik ten Hag attempts to pull them out of their worst period in decades this coming campaign.

But while the general perception of Liverpool, to some, is of a club who are reluctant to make a splash during the months of player trading, a closer inspection shows the reality to be much different.

Take a cursory glance at the squads for their last two appearances in the Champions League final, the 11 that started the defeat to Real Madrid last month had three players in the team who were not at the club when the sixth European Cup was won against Tottenham in Madrid in 2019.

Thiago Alcantara, Ibrahima Konate and Luis Diaz all started on that dismal night in Paris on May 28, while Diogo Jota, Takumi Minamino, Kostas Tsimikas and Harvey Elliott took four spots on the substitutes' bench. For those keeping count, that's seven players in a 23-man list who were not at the club three years ago, meaning the turnover sits at 1/3.

The addition of Darwin Nunez, Fabio Carvalho and Calvin Ramsay this summer has furthered that percentage, and a post-Sadio Mane world at Anfield means Klopp is entering somewhat of a new dawn; only Joel Matip remains at the club from his first summer window in 2016.

If the summer of 2020, when the Premier League title was lifted at Anfield, represents the bench for Klopp's time at the club, the rebuilding of his second great Liverpool team is gathering pace.

Having skirted the edges of footballing immortality last year in pursuit of an unprecedented quadruple, the Reds were forced to settle for 'just' a domestic cup double as they became only the fourth side to win both in the same season.

Or, perhaps more specifically, Liverpool became the first club to achieve that feat twice having done so back in 2001 under Gerard Houllier.

With Konate having turned just 23 last month, Trent Alexander-Arnold one of the finest full-backs in world football at the same age and Nunez, Carvalho, Elliott and Curtis Jones all younger than the influential defender, the future looks bright at Anfield.

Add in Jota, Diaz and Joe Gomez, who are all still to enter their peak years at 25, Klopp has quietly but decisively stacked up a squad for the future as much as the present.

The big asterisk on that front is the apparent unwillingness to take the plunge on a young midfielder in this summer's transfer window, but with interest in Borussia Dortmund's Jude Bellingham - a player who only turned 19 himself this week - understood to be genuine, Klopp is clearly looking at things with the wider lens having committed himself to the club for the next four years as recently as late April.

A move for Bellingham next summer will reduce the average age of the squad further and supply the Reds with a midfield general for the next 10 years and beyond. It's clear why the interest is there in the teenage England international, even if there is a relaxed approach to his immediate future right now.

One of things Julian Ward was tasked with upon succeeding Michael Edwards as sporting director was restructuring the attack and the recently-turned 23-year-old Nunez could lead Liverpool's line for the next decade should he develop as is widely hoped and expected inside the club.

To supplement the youth within the Liverpool ranks, experienced and quality campaigners like Thiago, Fabinho, Alisson Becker, Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip and captain Jordan Henderson continue to provide the backbone to a side that will once more harbour genuine hopes of Champions League and Premier League glory when the season starts up again in two months' time.

Add in a shiny new contract for a certain Mohamed Salah and Liverpool will have a spring in their step when the pre-season schedule approaches next week.

The clamour for more will no doubt continue in the background, but Klopp has firmly chosen evolution over revolution.

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