Liverpool boss Matt Beard has revealed the club will be looking to recruit at least five new players in this summer's transfer window.
Liverpool announced earlier this week that seven players will leave Prenton Park when their contracts expire at the end of the current campaign, with defensive duo Megan Campell and Leighanne Robe among the depatures. Coupled with the January exits of Rachel Furness and Charlotte Wardlaw and retirement of Gilly Flaherty, the need for Beard and his staff to bring some fresh blood to Merseyside is pressing.
Speaking to the media on Friday ahead of Liverpool's clash with Manchester United, Beard admitted the decision to let the departing players go was "tough" but is a necessary part of the evolution of his squad.
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"All the players have been fantastic servants to the football club and everyone, week in week out, has had an impact on the success we’ve had, especially last year," he said.
"We’re grateful to each and every one of them for what they’ve done and we wish them all the best in their new journeys."
Reflecting on the upcoming transfer window, Beard added: "We’ve got seven that will be moving on. We’ve got Lucy Parry whose had a fantastic season on loan at Hibernian and Hannah Silcock who we signed to a long-term deal last year who has been trying to balance playing with her A-Levels.
"We’re looking at least five coming in, knowing that we’ve got Hannah and Lucy back at the club last year."
It's been a quietly impressive return to the Women's Super League for Liverpool who, with one game of the season left to play, boast the joint-highest points return of any newly-promoted side in the modern WSL era. The Reds currently sit seventh in the table and Beard is confident this campaign offers a solid foundation on which his team can build going into next season.
"I feel we’ve had a good return to the WSL," he said. "It’s been a little bit inconsistent but if you look at our form in the second half of the season it’s been good.
"We’ve had the odd blip along the way but that happens in top-level football. We knew the first half of the season would be tough. We knew we had a real tough start to life back in the WSL with the way the fixtures panned out for us but it takes time to adjust to this level.
"There are a lot of players that have learnt a lot from this year and will be in a much better space coming into next year. We’re looking forward to next season, we’re going to have a break and then go again."
Liverpool will get the chance to finish the campaign on a high when they host title hopefuls United at Prenton Park on Sunday afternoon. The Reds suffered their heaviest defeat of the season when they faced Marc Skinner's side in January but Beard believes his players have come a long way since that 6-0 drubbing at Leigh Sports Village.
"That’s in the past," he said. "We definitely learnt from that. We’re in good form at the moment, Manchester United are in good form so it’s going to be an interesting day.
"Obviously the pressure is on them. They’ve got something they’re fighting for. We just want to finish the season strongly in front of our home fans.
"We’re expecting a record crowd at Prenton Park so we want to try and get the three points so that we can go away in the summer with a good campaign under our belt."
Liverpool v Manchester United kick off at 2.30pm on Saturday May 27 and is available to watch on the BBC.
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