Liverpool have made a busy start to the summer transfer window with the signing of £29.5million Jeremie Frimpong and a £100m club-record deal that could rise to £116m agreed for attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz. The Reds will also welcome Giorgi Mamardashvili to Anfield as a competitor to Alisson in goal and have sold goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher to Brentford after waving goodbye to Trent Alexander-Arnold.
Milos Kerkez is the next target for the Liverpool board with a deal expected to be brokered with Bournemouth imminently. But sporting director Richard Hughes isn’t done there as he seeks to hand Arne Slot the strongest possible squad in pursuit of Premier League and Champions League glory next season. Express Sport looks at how a dream 25-man Liverpool squad could look come the weekend of Saturday August 16…
Signings
Having already signed Mamardashvili, Frimpong and Wirtz and with Kerkez also inbound, Liverpool still have two positions to address – centre-back and striker. Defensively, Dean Huijsen was a target before the Bournemouth man opted to join Real Madrid for £50m.
One thing the Liverpool hierarchy will be acutely aware of is the need for homegrown players, with Kelleher and Alexander-Arnold gone and Jarell Quansah, Nat Phillips, Rhys Williams, Tyler Morton and Harvey Elliott all contenders to depart this summer. That could lead them to two potential centre-half options – Crystal Palace’s Marc Guehi and Levi Colwill of Chelsea. Both are admired but Guehi is on the smaller side for a centre-half.
Colwill, who only turned 22 in February and is expected to rack up England caps across his career, would be the dream target. A bid of £80m could test Chelsea’s resolve and could make the defender the long-term successor to Virgil van Dijk in the left-sided centre-half position.
Further up, Julian Alvarez would be the ultimate acquisition but would cost around £100m which could make a deal too difficult. Hugo Ekitike of Eintracht Frankfurt is also admired by the Premier League champions with the German club holding out for £85m. But a deal similar to the one that took Darwin Nunez to Liverpool in 2022, £63m rising to £85m after add-ons, could be done.
The French centre-forward turns 23 next week and produced 22 goals and 12 assists last season, but is also liked by Chelsea and Manchester United. Ekitike would be an exciting replacement for Nunez as the new focal point of the attack on L4.
Sales
As mentioned, Quansah, Williams, Morton and Elliott could all leave to bring down Liverpool’s homegrown tally. The Reds would likely let Quansah and Elliott depart for fees around £40m while Morton is likely to be nearer £10m and only nominal fees will be needed to get Williams and Nat Phillips out of Anfield.
Elsewhere, with Kerkez arriving, the path is clear for Kostas Tsimikas to be a starter elsewhere. Leeds have been linked and a fee of approximately £12m could get the Greek to Elland Road. Andy Robertson is a target for Atletico Madrid but an ideal scenario would see him spend at least one year as the veteran deputy to Kerkez.
Liverpool will recoup approximately £120m from those aforementioned sales. Everton-linked Ben Doak could take that amount nearer to £150m while the club’s recruitment team hope to bring at least £60m in for Nunez who has interest from Europe, namely Serie A and La Liga, and Saudi Arabia.
Ideally Liverpool would keep popular players Joe Gomez, Wataru Endo and Federico Chiesa – who is keen for more game time and could return to Italy – for depth while utilising Stefan Bajcetic as a back-up to Ryan Gravenberch given his passing ability. By contrast, Trey Nyoni and Jayden Danns could be sent out to play regular men’s football for a year.
Liverpool’s dream 25-man squad
Goalkeepers: Alisson, Mamardasvhili, Davies*
Defenders: Frimpong*, Bradley*, Van Dijk, Konate, Gomez*, Colwill*, Kerkez, Robertson
Midfielders: Gravenberch, Mac Allister, Wirtz, Szoboszlai, Jones*, Endo, Bajcetic**, McConnell**
Attackers: Salah, Diaz, Ekitike, Jota, Gakpo, Chiesa
* – Homegrown player ** – qualifies as an U21 player
SIGNED: Mamardashvili, Frimpong, Wirtz, Kerkez, Colwill, Ekitike (£384m)
SOLD: Kelleher, Phillips, Williams, Quansah, Tsimikas, Morton, Elliott, Nunez, Doak (£210m)
LOANED: Jaros, Beck, Nyoni, Koumas, Gordon, Danns
Content Source: www.express.co.uk