Florian Wirtz.
Florian Wirtz.
Even before an agreement with Bayer Leverkusen had been reached over £116m Florian Wirtz, Liverpool were being subjected to the sniping of rivals.
'That's the last of the Phillippe Coutinho money' went the prod in the direction of the Premier League champions, with tongues firmly pressed into cheeks. The inference being, of course, that the Reds have somehow pretended to stretch the £142m fee received from Barcelona over seven years ago in an effort to present a false reality of a club who don't spend heavily in the transfer market.
For the avoidance of doubt, the sale of Coutinho in January 2018 did facilitate the arrivals of £75m Virgil van Dijk and £65m Alisson Becker, which, quite neatly rounded up to a nice, even £140m and almost directly led to Jurgen Klopp's Liverpool going from pretenders to contenders and then serial winners of every major trophy between the years 2019 and 2022.
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In short, the departure of the Brazil playmaker was one of the greatest deals in modern football.
But, of course, Liverpool have not made a habit of such an extraordinary outlay that is being paid for Germany international Wirtz. In fact, only two senior players have officially been signed for the Reds since the transfer window closed in August 2023. Jeremie Frimpong's £29m release clause was triggered last month to add to the £12m addition of Federico Chiesa last year.
That means that the Reds have spent, inclusive of add-ons, £41m in two years. That is around £10m more than Brighton & Hove Albion have just paid to land Charalampos Kostoulas from Olympiakos. The imminent arrival of goalkeeper Giorgi Mamardashvili, at £29m, takes the Reds to £70m on sporting director Richard Hughes's watch.
Throw in the addition of Wirtz at £116m, which is, again, inclusive of all add-ons, and it takes Liverpool's spending in the Arne Slot era to £186m, which, while not an insignificant amount, pales in comparison to the likes of Chelsea, whose spendthrift model has seen them lay out the thick end of £350m during that same timeframe.
Such has been the Londoners' disorienting level of recruitment, in fact, that they have named a 28-man squad for this month's Club World Cup and have still been able to omit £47.5m Raheem Sterling, £38.5m Axel Disasi, £45m Ben Chilwell and £45m Joao Felix.
Manchester City, meanwhile, are careering towards a total of £320m themselves since the start of last season, while Manchester United continue to spend good money after bad on a string of players unsuited or ill equipped to perform at Old Trafford. Just the £209m spent last summer, for those keeping score.
Since the start of the decade, Liverpool sit outside the top 10 for money spent in the Premier League and the eye-watering and potential British-record addition of Germany international Wirtz only moves them into eighth, around £30m short of West Ham United.
So no, the Coutinho is long gone at Anfield, spent wisely on two of the greatest players the club have ever had in Alisson and Van Dijk and that, ironically, is the level Wirtz is being viewed at internally at Anfield.
That means the pressure is on immediately and at that sort of price, the pitch forks will be out from those hoping it falls on its face as hopelessly as many of those aforementioned Chelsea deals.
But if a risk-averse and often parsimonious strategy to signings has taught anything over the last few years at Anfield, it's that Liverpool often get it right when it's time to spend big.
For them, unlike some of their rivals, there is no alternative.