After agreeing a £66.9 million deal to sign goalkeeper Alisson Becker from Roma, Liverpool‘s summer transfer window is their biggest in size and stature.
The shopping spree has so far racked up a club-record bill of £174.13m, pushing Jurgen Klopp’s spending as Reds boss since joining the Merseyside outfit eight games into the 2015/16 Premier League season, past the £400m mark.
Indeed, eight of his top ten purchases as a manager, have now been acquired while in control of Liverpool’s purse strings and Alisson slots into a locked out top seven of Anfield arrivals.
And the German may not even be finished yet with a revival of their interest in Lyon playmaker Nabil Fekir still reportedly under consideration.
Eliminate the ‘netspend’ element for a moment and £100m more has been spent in the last three years combined, than in the three before that to clearly indicate Liverpool’s position among the elite.
However, the returns on that exponential investment has only yielded progress rather than tangible success. Granted, the green has bought silver in the form of three losing finals in Klopp’s tenure but gold is the only currency which matters for both the financial (owners Fenway Sports Group) and emotional (the supporters) investors.
Liverpool will own the world record for fees paid to sign a goalkeeper (Alisson) and a defender (Virgil Van Dijk), a sign of where the bulk of their deficiencies have formed.
And depth has been added to their midfield with six options for three spots opening up following the acquisitions of Naby Keita and Fabinho while Xherdan Shaqiri’s arrival means another bullet is in the gun further up the pitch.
Suffice to say, in terms of talent, on paper 2018 is the best transfer year in the Liverpool’s history – think back to 2011 when Stewart Downing and Charlie Adam hallmarked their spending for justification of the progress made.
It’s not just money which has been emptied from their deep pockets, but excuses as well. Liverpool have perpetually been ‘one or two signings away’ from challenging for top honours and for once they have actually made all the right moves.
Klopp has a thrilling set of talented players at his disposal, stars who fit his philosophy and character profile. Loris Karius was an obvious weak link after his calamities in the Champions League final but with Alisson that problem is solved.
Van Dijk’s presence quickly fortified the defence – no one even mentions his fee now – and up front they are able to deploy the terrifying trio of Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Roberto Firmino.
Midfield was decimated by injuries but whereas Klopp was left counting how many bodies he had fit last season, now he requires an equation to pick his middle three.
It is no longer a question of whether the Reds can contend next season because they simply have to.
Primary targets signed plus big money spent equals enormous expectation and unlike previous campaigns when the aim of ending their long wait for a league title was more in hope than reality, now the narrative is different.
Liverpool should not be viewed as underdogs for the 2018/19 season because they’ve busted out a shiny diamond collar and have been bloated by the finest food.
They possess the pedigree to a mount a genuine challenge of Manchester City’s crown and showed domestically and in Europe last season their pure football style can counter that of Pep Guardiola’s and any other side for that matter.
And look at the business elsewhere.
The champions have so far only added Riyad Mahrez with their top midfield transfer target Jorginho joining Chelsea.
City annoyed with Napoli and Jorginho‘s agent. They claim they had shaken hands on a €50m deal but club bullied player into joining Chelsea instead.
— Paul Hirst (@hirstclass) July 14, 2018
Their Manchester neighbours have fared little better this summer with Fred – who couldn’t displace Fernandinho or Casemiro for a single minute of action at the World Cup with Brazil – and young full-back Diogo Dalot their two headliners.
Chelsea are an unknown quantity as Maurizio Sarri replaced Antonio Conte in a chaotic turnaround and they are now bracing themselves for a potentially catastrophic trio of exits – Eden Hazard (Real Madrid), Thibaut Courtois (Real Madrid) and N’Golo Kante (Barcelona).
From the rest of last season’s top six, Arsenal have recruited well to supplement a stable of talented stars and could be an outside shout to contend if new boss Unai Emery can meld skill with will.
Tottenham, though, have not signed anyone with a new stadium and Harry Kane’s contract extension likely to be their biggest expenditures.
Yes, Liverpool were 25 points adrift of the runaway leaders City last season but with the injection of new talent, Klopp has more than enough capacity to close the gap.
They have acted like a big club in recent transfer windows, now it’s to produce results befitting of that reputation.
