FSG understand that stories are more powerful than equations – and Liverpool’s imminent capture of Florian Wirtz illustrates just how well the owners have finessed one particular financial narrative.
Liverpool are often characterised as the football finance equivalent of a card counter in Vegas.
They’re outnumbered, often outspent, but always bending the odds of the transfer market in their favour while everyone else in the Premier League and beyond burns through chips.
To many observers, the blockbuster signing of Florian Wirtz, whose medical is scheduled for Friday, for a basic fee of around £100m potentially rising to a British-record £116m with add-ons was a dramatic departure from FSG’s philosophy.
Florian Wirtz with his back to the camera with his number 10 shirt number prominent
Photo by Jonathan Moscrop/Getty Images
This, it seemed, was Liverpool finally behaving like a kingpin: not just targeting the data-backed gem with outsized market value but instead putting those goliath commercial revenues to use and signing an oven-ready superstar.
In reality, though, Liverpool have outspent nearly everyone in world football for years, they have just done so more subtly than their rivals and – arguably – have actively nurtured the myth of their frugality.
What’s more, they are infinitely more efficient with what they do spend.
Look at the transfer net spend table in the 15 years since FSG arrived on Merseyside and you’ll see that the balances of the so-called Big Six plus Newcastle United are significantly higher than Liverpool’s, while the likes of West Ham and Aston Villa are around the same. Take a look at the wage bill, however, and it’s a totally different picture.
Liverpool wage bill over time and cumulative wage bill under FSG
Liverpool cumulative wage bill Credit: Adam Williams/TBR Football/GRV Media
By the time their accounts for 2024-25 are released, Liverpool will have paid players and staff close to £4bn since the takeover in 2010.
With Florian Wirtz, Milos Kerkez and Jeremie Frimpong on the payroll next season plus new deals for Mohamed Salah and Virgil Van Dijk, the 2025-26 wage bill will probably surpass Manchester City’s as the biggest in the Premier League.
In global terms, only Real Madrid and Paris Saint-Germain will spend more. It’s nothing Liverpool can’t afford, mind. FSG have never put any of their own money into the football side of the business, though they have invested significantly in infrastructure.
Even if Arne Slot, Michael Edwards and Richard Hughes can persuade Alexander Isak to part with Newcastle this summer, the enormous fee that Newcastle would demand will be sourced entirely from Liverpool’s own revenues.
So while Wirtz swapping Leverkusen for L4 in a nine-figure deal might initially look like an anomaly, it’s actually just the data presenting itself in a different way.
FSG’s investment in Liverpool’s wage bill is ‘how titles are won’, says finance expert
Next season, Liverpool’s wage bill will fly past £400m – and potentially by quite a margin, depending in which season bonuses for winning the Premier League in 2024-25 are formally paid out.
“The narrative that Liverpool are frugal in the wage department isn’t accurate,” says University of Liverpool football finance lecturer Kieran Maguire in an exclusive conversation with TBR Football.
With LFC’s 2024/25 financial period complete, I’ll provide some initial/rough *estimates* (w/ full write-up this weekend).
Key P&L metrics estimated to improve notably vs 2023/24:
– Rev of £714m (+£100m; +16.3%)
– Adj EBITDA of £140m (+£70m)
– Pre-tax profit of £48m (+£105m) pic.twitter.com/F034r55vXO
— Greg Cordell (@gregorypcordell) June 10, 2025
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“It also ignores the fact that you should be talking about wages and amortisation as a proportion of revenue.
“This is how titles are won and it has a greater impact of course on the Squad Cost Control rules which are being implemented by UEFA already and could form the basis of a revision to the Premier League system too.
“Liverpool’s amortisation in 2023-24 was £114m compared to £190m at Man United, £192m at Chelsea, £170m at Arsenal and £165m at Man City. They have got £50m-plus of wiggle room there.
“They’ve renewed the contracts of Salah and Van Dijk, who are first-team picks with close to zero amortisation costs. Liverpool focus on the total cost of employing the squad – this is one of the reasons FSG are so smart.
Chart showing that wages-to-turnover ratios of all 20 Premier League clubs, with TBR Football logo
Premier League wages-to-turnover ratios Credit: Adam Williams/TBR Football/GRV Media
“Wirtz is a big transfer and you’re looking at £11m per season there in wages. I’ve never bought into the narrative about Liverpool being frugal because I look at the facts. Player contracts are hugely incentivised and there is a lack of nuance in the way we discuss this.”
Liverpool’s PSR position after Florian Wirtz deal
Under Premier League Profit and Sustainability Rules (PSR), clubs are allowed to lose £105m over a rolling three-season period, while UEFA’s system has a slightly lower upper limit at around £75m. Under both systems, the bulk of the losses must be underwritten by an owner.
Under the UEFA system also includes a squad cost rule whereby clubs can spend no more than 70 per cent of turnover plus profit on players on player and head coach wages, transfers and agents’ fees.
Liverpool fans raise scarves aloft at Anfield
Photo by Jack Thomas – WWFC/Wolves via Getty Images
Despite the £100m-plus outlay on Wirtz and with more signings to come, Liverpool have no issues under the European or domestic PSR system.
They will reveal a chunky profit when they release their accounts for 2024-25 and, while they might swing back to a loss in 2025-26 with amortised but big-money transfer fees, they will still have ample manoeuvrability.