With just three weeks to go before Liverpool’s opening Premier League game, the club have only announced one first-team signing. With the return to fitness of Virgil van Dijk, Joel Matip, Joe Gomez and Diogo Jota this may not prove to be of importance this season. However, it could become pivotal in the not-too-distant future.
With the emergence of Curtis Jones, the inclusion of Harvey Elliot, the development of Kostas Tsimikas, and the addition of Ibrahima Konate, you could reasonably argue Liverpool’s squad is currently stronger than in previous seasons, including when we won the Premier League in 2019/20.
Despite the call from fans for the club to match their rivals in the transfer market, Liverpool will still enter next season with every chance of success in multiple competitions.
The concern should not be what a lack of signings will do to impact next season, but what this will mean for the future.
An ageing squad
By the end of the coming season Andrew Robertson, Fabinho and Alisson will be 28 or over. In addition Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane, Roberto Firmino, James Milner, Jordan Henderson, Thiago, Joel Matip and Virgil van Dijk will all be on the wrong side of 30.
All the players noted above would also be within two years of their current deals ending, despite some new contract rumours.
FSG appear to be seemingly unwilling to extend contracts for ageing players following their decision to allow Gini Wijnaldum to leave on a free transfer this summer. This has been reinforced by recent reports that they are also unwilling to offer Henderson an extension to keep him at the club.
It is then reasonable to expect that this squad will, through choice and necessity, be completely changed in as little as three years.
What this means for Liverpool
The club unfortunately finds itself in a predicament. Current players are simply too good to replace, which detracts from potential signings as game time is limited. However the current window of opportunity for this squad only continues to narrow.
That makes the decisions made this summer all the more important. Liverpool should not simply seek to plug the holes as they appear, and replace personnel at the same time they leave.
It is hard to imagine the club being able to replace Van Dijk, Firmino, Salah, Henderson, etc, in just a number of seasons when it took them many more to build this current squad.
The inability to foresee this will only lead the Reds to act hastily and desperately in the future.
If FSG do not wish to pay the wages necessary to keep these players, but are also unwilling to sanction the fees necessary to replace them, the club will will never be able to compete with their rivals.
When you also consider Jurgen Klopp’s preference to ease players into his system, inaction this summer is unjustifiable.
We should no longer just judge a new signing on his fit with this current squad but also his fit with the squad of our future.
With each passing week of inactivity edging Liverpool closer to the end of the transfer window, pressure not only builds for the start of the season but the clock will have already started for even more critical transfer windows to come.
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