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Reds look to go again following memorable - but painful - campaign
Liverpool boss Graeme Edwards has had a far quieter 'Transfer Bonanza' than he did last season when, having just joined the club, the Scot ripped apart the entire playing staff literally only retaining the services of goalkeeper André Onana from the pool of players he inherited from the previous regime.
So far this bonanza the club have kept the majority of the players that lifted last season's FA Cup, with only a few ins and outs to date.
Riyad Mahrez has been moved on to little old Millwall in a £50m deal whilst star striker Marcus Rashford departed for a new life in the beautiful Italian city of Florence in a deal which also saw veteran Austrian defender David Alaba move to Florence with striker Guedes and Italian defender Mancini moving to Merseyside along with a cash sum of £30m. Rodri was also sold to German side Bayer Leverkusen for £43m.
Such is the nature of the bonanza, Guedes had barely had time to unpack his suitcases when a deal was struck with another Italian side - this time Lazio - which saw the Portuguese forward fly back to continue his life in Italy with veteran Spanish striker de Tomas and £25m replacing him at Anfield.
With the transfer money gained added to the substantial prize money achieved from last season it was inevitable that Edwards would be looking to spend big and the Scot did just that when he agreed a deal worth £95m to bring in Uruguayan defensive midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur from Premier League rivals Arsenal. The 28 year old is undoubtedly a quality and just as importantly a versatile player but the outlaying of £95m in the current financial climate does appear to be excessive although the Liverpool boss is adamant that the addition of Bentancur will represent good value for money for the club when he addressed the media earlier about this and other matters.
Edwards "Yes it's certainly been a much quieter bonanza at this stage than it was last season. That was just utterly ridiculous and total bedlam to be honest but it really had to be done. We elected to completely rip apart the playing squad we inherited given how poorly it had performed for several seasons for the previous manager. The squad we assembled performed pretty well with the FA Cup win and runner up finishes in both the Premier League and Dave Phillips Trophy so we certainly feel vindicated at how we went about things"
The Scot continued "However we do recognise that the age of the squad is older than we would like it to be and that is something that we will need to start addressing - particularly with stalwarts such as Matt Hummels and Jordi Alba due to retire at the end of the coming campaign. Younger players have always been much sought after in the game but that has become even more apparent now with the changing to seasonal ageing. Older players are almost treated like lepers by some managers and whilst I understand the reasons for it I will still look to have a sprinkling of quality veterans at this club as I know how important they can be on the pitch"
"Having raised money through the sale of Mahrez and Rodri along with the other deals we have done we drew up a list of players that we would like to try and bring to the club. The money spent in the recent youth auction for some fairly average players further illustrates how inflated the prices are for younger players and so we quickly realised that we would be better looking to try and land quality players in the 25-28 age bracket. One of the players that we had targeted was a player that we had admired for a long time including from his time previously at Southampton and that was Rodrigo Bentancur"
"Obviously we watched the player move to the Emirates last season and for me that was an encouraging sign for us as I have an excellent relationship with the Gunners manager Darren Humphris and I knew that would help us in any negotiations. To be honest after initial enquiries were made the deal was concluded very quickly. We established that Arsenal were indeed prepared to entertain offers on the player and that the amount we had offered was very close to matching their valuation of the player. When Darren came back to me to say if we would go to £95m a deal could be done I had no hesitation in agreeing to it. It's a lot of money but when you have your sights set on a player and you get so close to signing him, you aren't going to allow the deal to collapse for an extra few million - at least I'm not going to anyway"
Edwards concluded "Now I know that £95m for a 28 year old will be questioned in some quarters but I genuinely think it's money well spent. The player is a legitimate top class defensive midfielder and that is something that we have been lacking. With all due respect to Rodri his tackling was not in the class of Bentancur's. We are going to stick with playing and developing our 20 year old defensive mid Halifa in the season ahead and we recognise the importance of getting in a top class player to play alongside him. For me Bentancur fits the bill perfectly and he has the flexibility to slide in to both the defence and midfield if required too. For me an absolutely brilliant signing for the club as we look to push on in the season ahead including the club's first appearance in the Champions League for quite some time"
It seems likely that André Onana, Diego Carlos, Manuel Akanji, Jack Grealish, Halifa and Mykhailo Mudryk will remain at the club with the likes of Mancini, Bentancur and de Tomas supplementing them along with 2 or 3 other new faces whether that be through the transfer market or auction. Speculation has been increasing tonight that the club will look to cash in on one or both of Matt Hummels and Jordi Alba who are due to retire at the end of the season. The big decision will be whether the money that can be secured for a player of the quality of Hummels is worth it given that the German is still one of the very first names on the team sheet such remains his influence, leadership and ability both on and off the park. A bid of £18m is believed to have been tabled for Hummels from another Premier League side although there appears to be one or two managers hell bent on sticking their oar in no doubt trying to throw a spanner in the works so as things stand Hummels future at the club is very much up in the air. Meanwhile Alba, who is considered to be of lesser monetary value is more likely to be retained to provide quality back up and depth with the veteran Spaniard impressing everyone at the club with the consistency of his performances after arriving from Juventus early in the campaign. At the time of writing no offers are thought to have been tabled for the galloping left back.
The club have called up 3 players from the Academy with one of those, Brazilian defender Luiz set to spend the season on loan in war torn Ukraine after a deal was reached with Shakhtar Donetsk caretaker Steve Outten - Shakhtar will receive a £5m fee and play the youngster a guaranteed amount of minutes. The other two - Niang and Kulic - are both strikers and look destined to have to settle for limited playing time from the bench although Niang is close to kicking on to another level and seems more likely to have the opportunity to feature a little more regularly than Kulic.
It is understood that at the present time the club have no intention of pumping any money into the Academy. The starting eleven and bench are seen as the priority at the moment and recruiting and training further younger players is cost prohibitive to enabling the first squad to be adequately strengthened for the challenges that they will meet in the season ahead. The hope is that in future seasons money can be set aside for the Academy if it is considered that this will provide good value for money and have a chance of producing, in time, first team calibre players. The manager and staff remain optimistic that current Academy players goalkeeper Douchez, defender Wolf and attacking midfielder Kranjcar have a chance of making it to first team level in the future.
No club captain has been officially named at this stage but according to club sources Mudryk will once again be handed the armband just as he was in the first half of last season. The Ukrainian had an impressive first season at the club following his £100m move from Bayer Leverkusen in what was one of the first deals Edwards secured for the club following his arrival on Merseyside.
In one other piece of news it seems likely that Edwards and the board of directors will approve and rubberstamp a further increase in the capacity of Anfield after it was deemed that the existing capacity of 60,000 was inadequate and unable to meet the demand for season tickets by the club's passionate and loyal support. It remains to be seen whether the build will generate another 5,000 or 10,000 seats with the cost implications of increasing to 70,000 being considered a little too excessive by some members of the board. As a source at board room level has said the club has no doubt that they could build a 120,000 stadium and fill it every week such is the upturn in interest on Merseyside as the team has found a way to start challenging for trophies again - even if ultimately the Premier League title challenge failed at the very last hurdle in damp and dreary conditions at a loud and intimidating Elland Road.
Liverpool boss Graeme Edwards has had a far quieter 'Transfer Bonanza' than he did last season when, having just joined the club, the Scot ripped apart the entire playing staff literally only retaining the services of goalkeeper André Onana from the pool of players he inherited from the previous regime.
So far this bonanza the club have kept the majority of the players that lifted last season's FA Cup, with only a few ins and outs to date.
Riyad Mahrez has been moved on to little old Millwall in a £50m deal whilst star striker Marcus Rashford departed for a new life in the beautiful Italian city of Florence in a deal which also saw veteran Austrian defender David Alaba move to Florence with striker Guedes and Italian defender Mancini moving to Merseyside along with a cash sum of £30m. Rodri was also sold to German side Bayer Leverkusen for £43m.
Such is the nature of the bonanza, Guedes had barely had time to unpack his suitcases when a deal was struck with another Italian side - this time Lazio - which saw the Portuguese forward fly back to continue his life in Italy with veteran Spanish striker de Tomas and £25m replacing him at Anfield.
With the transfer money gained added to the substantial prize money achieved from last season it was inevitable that Edwards would be looking to spend big and the Scot did just that when he agreed a deal worth £95m to bring in Uruguayan defensive midfielder Rodrigo Bentancur from Premier League rivals Arsenal. The 28 year old is undoubtedly a quality and just as importantly a versatile player but the outlaying of £95m in the current financial climate does appear to be excessive although the Liverpool boss is adamant that the addition of Bentancur will represent good value for money for the club when he addressed the media earlier about this and other matters.
Edwards "Yes it's certainly been a much quieter bonanza at this stage than it was last season. That was just utterly ridiculous and total bedlam to be honest but it really had to be done. We elected to completely rip apart the playing squad we inherited given how poorly it had performed for several seasons for the previous manager. The squad we assembled performed pretty well with the FA Cup win and runner up finishes in both the Premier League and Dave Phillips Trophy so we certainly feel vindicated at how we went about things"
The Scot continued "However we do recognise that the age of the squad is older than we would like it to be and that is something that we will need to start addressing - particularly with stalwarts such as Matt Hummels and Jordi Alba due to retire at the end of the coming campaign. Younger players have always been much sought after in the game but that has become even more apparent now with the changing to seasonal ageing. Older players are almost treated like lepers by some managers and whilst I understand the reasons for it I will still look to have a sprinkling of quality veterans at this club as I know how important they can be on the pitch"
"Having raised money through the sale of Mahrez and Rodri along with the other deals we have done we drew up a list of players that we would like to try and bring to the club. The money spent in the recent youth auction for some fairly average players further illustrates how inflated the prices are for younger players and so we quickly realised that we would be better looking to try and land quality players in the 25-28 age bracket. One of the players that we had targeted was a player that we had admired for a long time including from his time previously at Southampton and that was Rodrigo Bentancur"
"Obviously we watched the player move to the Emirates last season and for me that was an encouraging sign for us as I have an excellent relationship with the Gunners manager Darren Humphris and I knew that would help us in any negotiations. To be honest after initial enquiries were made the deal was concluded very quickly. We established that Arsenal were indeed prepared to entertain offers on the player and that the amount we had offered was very close to matching their valuation of the player. When Darren came back to me to say if we would go to £95m a deal could be done I had no hesitation in agreeing to it. It's a lot of money but when you have your sights set on a player and you get so close to signing him, you aren't going to allow the deal to collapse for an extra few million - at least I'm not going to anyway"
Edwards concluded "Now I know that £95m for a 28 year old will be questioned in some quarters but I genuinely think it's money well spent. The player is a legitimate top class defensive midfielder and that is something that we have been lacking. With all due respect to Rodri his tackling was not in the class of Bentancur's. We are going to stick with playing and developing our 20 year old defensive mid Halifa in the season ahead and we recognise the importance of getting in a top class player to play alongside him. For me Bentancur fits the bill perfectly and he has the flexibility to slide in to both the defence and midfield if required too. For me an absolutely brilliant signing for the club as we look to push on in the season ahead including the club's first appearance in the Champions League for quite some time"
It seems likely that André Onana, Diego Carlos, Manuel Akanji, Jack Grealish, Halifa and Mykhailo Mudryk will remain at the club with the likes of Mancini, Bentancur and de Tomas supplementing them along with 2 or 3 other new faces whether that be through the transfer market or auction. Speculation has been increasing tonight that the club will look to cash in on one or both of Matt Hummels and Jordi Alba who are due to retire at the end of the season. The big decision will be whether the money that can be secured for a player of the quality of Hummels is worth it given that the German is still one of the very first names on the team sheet such remains his influence, leadership and ability both on and off the park. A bid of £18m is believed to have been tabled for Hummels from another Premier League side although there appears to be one or two managers hell bent on sticking their oar in no doubt trying to throw a spanner in the works so as things stand Hummels future at the club is very much up in the air. Meanwhile Alba, who is considered to be of lesser monetary value is more likely to be retained to provide quality back up and depth with the veteran Spaniard impressing everyone at the club with the consistency of his performances after arriving from Juventus early in the campaign. At the time of writing no offers are thought to have been tabled for the galloping left back.
The club have called up 3 players from the Academy with one of those, Brazilian defender Luiz set to spend the season on loan in war torn Ukraine after a deal was reached with Shakhtar Donetsk caretaker Steve Outten - Shakhtar will receive a £5m fee and play the youngster a guaranteed amount of minutes. The other two - Niang and Kulic - are both strikers and look destined to have to settle for limited playing time from the bench although Niang is close to kicking on to another level and seems more likely to have the opportunity to feature a little more regularly than Kulic.
It is understood that at the present time the club have no intention of pumping any money into the Academy. The starting eleven and bench are seen as the priority at the moment and recruiting and training further younger players is cost prohibitive to enabling the first squad to be adequately strengthened for the challenges that they will meet in the season ahead. The hope is that in future seasons money can be set aside for the Academy if it is considered that this will provide good value for money and have a chance of producing, in time, first team calibre players. The manager and staff remain optimistic that current Academy players goalkeeper Douchez, defender Wolf and attacking midfielder Kranjcar have a chance of making it to first team level in the future.
No club captain has been officially named at this stage but according to club sources Mudryk will once again be handed the armband just as he was in the first half of last season. The Ukrainian had an impressive first season at the club following his £100m move from Bayer Leverkusen in what was one of the first deals Edwards secured for the club following his arrival on Merseyside.
In one other piece of news it seems likely that Edwards and the board of directors will approve and rubberstamp a further increase in the capacity of Anfield after it was deemed that the existing capacity of 60,000 was inadequate and unable to meet the demand for season tickets by the club's passionate and loyal support. It remains to be seen whether the build will generate another 5,000 or 10,000 seats with the cost implications of increasing to 70,000 being considered a little too excessive by some members of the board. As a source at board room level has said the club has no doubt that they could build a 120,000 stadium and fill it every week such is the upturn in interest on Merseyside as the team has found a way to start challenging for trophies again - even if ultimately the Premier League title challenge failed at the very last hurdle in damp and dreary conditions at a loud and intimidating Elland Road.