Liverpool only make pre-tax £7.5m despite playing every match of 21-22 season

Liverpool's historic 2021-22 campaign, in which they played every single match in the calendar, only resulted in the club making a pre-tax profit of £7.5million.

Jurgen Klopp’s side won both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup last season, as well being pipped by Manchester City for the Premier League title on the final day and losing to Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

It was one of their most successful single campaigns - they pocketed £90million for their run in Europe - and strengthened their position as one of the biggest clubs in the world.

But for all that progress, it didn’t transmit into a golden windfall for Liverpool, who last year started a club-record kit sponsorship deal with Nike and saw their commercial revenue increase by £29million through a number of new partnerships.

Liverpool, who have seen a 100 per cent rise in utility costs over the last 12 months, cite the significant increase in the cost running football as to why there has been such an impact - the annual costs of running Anfield, for instance, have risen by 40 per cent since 2017.

This accounting period takes in the fact they signed Luis Diaz, Fabio Carvalho, Ben Doak and Bobby Clark, as well as making 22 contract extension with Jordan Henderson, Harvey Elliot, Ibrahima Konate, Andy Robertson, Alisson Becker, Stefan Bajcetic and Diogo Jota all signing long term deals.

The club’s annual wage bill is now £366million.

Liverpool’s overall revenue rose to £594m - up from the previous year’s figure of £487m - but administrative costs jumped from £476m to £545million.

Liverpool are in the process of finishing the rebuild of Anfield - the capacity will be 61,000 once the Anfield Road End is completed later this year - and owners Fenway Sports Group are looking to find new investment to bolster their financial strength.

In a statement, Andy Hughes, Liverpool’s managing director, said: 'Some of the numbers in these latest accounts look slightly skewed as a result of the previous reporting period being impacted by the global pandemic. However, the underlying strength of our financial position remains strong and we continue to operate a sustainable club which is our main objective from a financial perspective.

‘It was really great having supporters back at Anfield and returning to some sort of normality after a really challenging period for everyone.

‘For our men’s team to play the maximum 63 games in this reported season is an incredible achievement and winning more trophies is exactly what we continue to strive for. Our women’s team also had success by gaining promotion to the WSL was a great achievement and exactly where we need them to be competing.

‘The cost of running a football club does continue to rise. But we maintain our position of growing this club with significant investment with new and existing players signing contracts and the construction of the new Anfield Road Stand which we look forward to coming on stream in the summer. In the last five years we have invested over £250m in infrastructure and created world-class facilities for our players, staff and supporters.

‘What’s important now is to finish this season as strong as possible, both on and off the pitch, while we continue to manage costs and explore opportunities for growth in our commercial operations so we can continue to reinvest revenues in players and infrastructure.’