Liverpool are the Premier League club yet to sign this summer, guaranteeing they will be relegated, finish mid-table or win the title.
Fulham and Liverpool were the latest teams to blink in the move window, but Ryan Sessegnon’s return to Craven Cottage leaves the latter to face a potential storm of disgruntled supporters.
Arne Slot downplayed the transfers and absolved himself of his position as first-team coach, while new sporting director Richard Hughes is yet to make his mark.
This is not the first time in recent history that Liverpool have had to act at the end rather than quickly, although other clubs in the past have struggled to live up to their example.
The decision to wait for this £100 million provision to hit your bank account before spending it is part of the problem. More damaging were the basic philosophical differences between coach Moyes and sporting director Steidten. While one was looking for Premier League players, the other favoured those with a more continental flavour.
Obviously, it was a war that Moyes did not win. James Ward-Prowse was signed from Southampton, but Edson Álvarez was the first to cross the Ajax door on August 10; He later joined through his teammate Mohammed Kudus and the Stuttgart centre-back. -half Konstantinos Mavropanos.
West Ham stuttered and stumbled on another domestic season, as their European tours once back came as a welcome relief. Alvarez and Ward-Prowse were inspired with bursts and Mavropanos had their moments after breaking into the first team in the second half of the campaign. But his last signing was by far the best; The perfect Kudus embarrassed Erik ten Hag and Manchester United.
Leicester weren’t just the latest Premier League club to sign: every other team in Europe’s top five divisions had signed at least one new player before the Foxes, even though they all welcomed the first. And the deficient Alex Smithies, a third. Cardiff’s chosen goalkeeper bore the brunt of the frustration.
Rodgers only added one more player to his ranks in the entire window, and maybe he would have wanted him not to mind. Wout Faes had a disastrous first season in England, marked in particular by that notorious attack against Liverpool.
The challenge was the lack of profits from player sales. Leicester had mastered this balance before, but the two assets that were going to generate some sort of demand and profit were Youri Tielemans, who teams were willing to wait until the end of his contract, and Wesley Fofana, who Chelsea swapped. until the penultimate window. This left Leicester’s hands tied and ultimately sent them on a championship run that Rodgers couldn’t avoid.
Inevitably, Muñoz did not play a single game for the Magpies. Another player arrived at St James’ Park, but the permanent capture of successful loanee Joe Willock also failed to catch the eye.
Newcastle went on a 14-game winless run to start the season, during which not only Steve Bruce but Ashley himself was ousted by their new owners. The Saudi PIF appointed Eddie Howe, spent a fortune in January and oversaw an immediate shift from relegation doom-mongers to an upwardly-mobile mid-table team, with Willock still front and centre.
His delay seems to be the culmination of such hard work as a result of the turmoil within the board, with Jesús García Pitarch dismissed from his position as sporting director. Having laid a solid foundation to build on, Villa had to nail down his summer signing and he has withstood scrutiny many years later: Matty Cash, Ollie Watkins and Emiliano Martinez for just over £60m is a ridiculous rate of good fortune that is definitely worth it. waiting. Formation
Their first signing, Sepp van den Berg, and their vital pinnacle, Harvey Elliott, two teenagers who have had other careers at Anfield since then, and neither of whom expected to make an immediate impact.
Two other players joined the group, Adrian and Andy Lonergan, who also struggled to draw blood and a pre-season combined with defeats to Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and Napoli sent fans into a panic.
Klopp, Edwards and the rest of the Liverpool hive mind knew better, seeing the price of maintaining a settled and hungry team that had achieved European glory without winning the Premier League title. They had it figured out until January, while big-spending Manchester City fell behind.