Liverpool may appear to have broken the bank with record-breaking move for Florian Wirtz but three sales and quiet summer last year means the Premier League champions can continue to spend freely
Liverpool may have already spent £150m on Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong, with Milos Kerkez set to cost another £45m when he arrives from Bournemouth in the coming days – but the Premier League champions can continue to spend as they attempt to equip Arne Slot with a squad capable of retaining their title.
That they barely spent at all last summer has certainly helped but in the era of PSR and amoritisation, they have effectively covered the immediate cost of their business with Bayer Leverkusen by selling Trent Alexander-Arnold, Caoimhin Kelleher and Jarell Quansah for a combined £61.5m.
The accounts for this year will show that figure in full while the £100m initial fee for Wirtz, not including performance related add-ons, will be spread across the five years of his contract, with Frimpong’s price tag of £29.5m split across the same amount of time. Similar will apply to Hungary full back Kerkez.
And in the most basic terms that permits the Reds to keep on splurging.
Once the move for Kerkez is completed Liverpool are then expected to shift their focus to adding a new centre back with talk around a bid being submitted for the Crystal Palace and England star Marc Guehi.
Palace are under no financial pressure to sell Guehi, who has previously had interest from Newcastle United and his former club Chelsea.
But there is a risk that he could leave Selhurst Park on a free next summer with the captain appearing unlikely to sign a new deal for the FA Cup winners, who continue to wait and see if they are cleared to compete in next season's Europa League by UEFA.
Darwin Nunez, meanwhile, is tipped to leave Liverpool having failed to make an impact in two seasons at the club. Atletico Madrid are among those being linked with the Uruguay No 9, though they already have Julian Alvarez and an agreement might be out of their financial reach.
And Harvey Elliott has also been named in dispatches as another who could depart should sizeable offer arrive.
Either way Liverpool remain comfortable when it comes to PSR thanks to their departures and business in recent years, capitalising on their self-sustaining model, smart sales and a quiet year that still led into their second Premier League title win.