As we edge ever closer to this summer’s World Cup, let’s look back to the 2022 edition, and where every Liverpool first-team star was back then.
The old trope that football is a fast-moving sport is proven by all that has happened since the last edition of the biggest tournament in the world. The 2022 World Cup in Qatar was entertainment from start to finish, culminating in one of the best finals we have ever seen between Argentina and France.
Which Liverpool player would you most like to see lift the World Cup this summer?
And which one has the best chance…
Liverpool are a completely different team from those days, and some of our players have been on quite the journey. Let’s run through them — not a ‘Where are they now?’, but a ‘Where were they then?’
We’ll just look at the first-team players currently at the club, and exclude the youngsters who wouldn’t have been up to much.
Liverpool players during the 2022 World Cup
When the 2022 World Cup rolled around in Qatar, Alisson Becker was already Liverpool’s No. 1 and he went with Brazil, only for them to fall in the quarter-finals. Giorgi Mamardashvili, meanwhile, was at Valencia, but Georgia were nowhere near the tournament.
Conor Bradley was a Liverpool player at that point and he did not go because Northern Ireland failed to qualify. Jeremie Frimpong was with Bayer Leverkusen and did make the Netherlands squad, even if he never got on the pitch in Qatar.
Joe Gomez was of course at Liverpool too, but he missed out on England’s final squad. Virgil van Dijk was there for the Netherlands as captain and led them to the quarter-finals before they were knocked out by Argentina.
Ibrahima Konate was another Liverpool man in Qatar and he ended up going all the way to the final with France. Andy Robertson stayed with Liverpool through that period, as Scotland never made it after losing their play-off to Ukraine.
Milos Kerkez was at AZ Alkmaar then, long before his Premier League rise, and Hungary did not qualify. Ryan Gravenberch had just made the move to Bayern Munich, but he was left out of the Netherlands squad altogether.
Wataru Endo was captaining VfB Stuttgart at the time and he did go with Japan, who reached the last 16 and gave a good account of themselves. Curtis Jones stayed home with a seat on the England plane never a realistic possibility.
Alexis Mac Allister was a Brighton player in December 2022 and came back as a World Cup winner with Argentina. Dominik Szoboszlai was at RB Leipzig, but Hungary did not qualify so he had no part to play in Qatar.
You can only pick ONE player for Liverpool to sign this summer, who is it?
Who should Richard Hughes be targeting above all…
Florian Wirtz was still with Bayer Leverkusen, but injury ruled him out despite Germany making the tournament. Cody Gakpo was a PSV Eindhoven player and used Qatar as a launchpad, scoring three times and announcing himself on the biggest stage.
Federico Chiesa was at Juventus, but Italy’s failure to qualify meant he never got the chance to feature. Mohamed Salah was in his Liverpool prime, yet Egypt’s play-off defeat to Senegal kept him out of the competition.
Alexander Isak had already joined Newcastle United by then, but Sweden had fallen short in qualifying and he stayed home as a result. Hugo Ekitike was at Paris Saint-Germain on loan from Reims and, unsurprisingly, he was nowhere near that loaded France squad.
Some were already established when the tournament got underway, some were still climbing, and a few used Qatar to change the course of their careers. Mac Allister and Gakpo are the obvious ones, because that tournament genuinely shifted the way people looked at them.
Receive a digest of our best Liverpool content each week direct to your mailbox
