The impending departure of Jarell Quansah continues a transfer trend that has served Liverpool well
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Sport
14:54, 20 Jun 2025
LONDON, ENGLAND - JANUARY 08: Jarell Quansah of Liverpool speaks to Arne Slot, Manager of Liverpool, as he is substituted due to injury during the Carabao Cup Semi Final First Leg match between Tottenham Hotspur and Liverpool at Tottenham Hotspur Stadium on January 08, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
Arne Slot looks set to leave Liverpool in a £35m deal transfer to Bayer Leverkusen
(Image: Justin Setterfield/Getty Images)
If you think of ‘peak Liverpool’ under Jurgen Klopp, you think of the starting XI that beat Tottenham Hotspur to win the 2019 Champions League final. Alisson Becker in goal, Trent Alexander-Arnold and Andy Robertson at full-back with Joel Matip partnering Virgil van Dijk.
Jordan Henderson as captain with Fabinho at number six and Gini Wijnaldum completing the midfield. And then the world-class triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane in attack.
It is well-documented that Klopp’s ‘peak Liverpool’ side only ever started together just once, on that famous night in Madrid at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium six years ago. But it is still the side we all think of when we reminisce about the Reds at their very best.
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Liverpool won everything under Klopp, but the ‘only’ honours that starting XI all won were the 2019 Champions League and 2019/20 Premier League title.
Alisson missed the European Super Cup win through injury, while Joel Matip and Fabinho sat out the FIFA Club World Cup before Gini Wijnaldum became their first departee in the summer of 2021 before the Reds had had the chance to complete the trophy set.
It cost Liverpool a combined transfer fee of £347.6m to put together. Six years on and there are now just four survivors still at Anfield following Alexander-Arnold’s move to Real Madrid in Alisson, Robertson, Van Dijk and Salah.
Yet Robertson could follow Alexander-Arnold out of the exit door amid interest from Atletico Madrid, with the Reds closing in on the £40m signing of Milos Kerkez from AFC Bournemouth.
Should the Scotland captain depart, Liverpool will likely look to roughly make back the £10m they spent when signing the left-back from Hull City in the summer of 2017.
But the seven remaining members of the Reds’ Champions League winning XI departed for a combined fee of roughly £89.5m. And were it not for Real Madrid competing in this summer’s FIFA Club World Cup, that total would have instead stood at £79.5m with Alexander-Arnold then joining Matip, Wijnaldum and Firmino in leaving on Bosman transfers.
Should Robertson not join Atletico Madrid, he too is likely to leave at the end of his contract next summer. And while Liverpool avoided Van Dijk and Salah both leaving for free after finalising new two year contracts with the pair in April - when they were both down to the final two months of their contracts - lucrative offers from Saudi Arabia are likely the only thing that will stop them and Alisson from also leaving on free transfers when the time comes.
Liverpool have been criticised at times for their relaxed nature when it comes to losing players for nothing at the end of their contracts, with Ibrahima Konate the latest player to enter the final year of his deal and be subject to ongoing transfer speculation and uncertainty.
Likewise, the Reds are currently content to let Luis Diaz see out his contract - which expires in 2027 - rather than cash in now unless they receive a mammoth offer.
Under Klopp’s watch alone Mario Balotelli, Jose Enrique, Lazar Markovic, Emre Can, Daniel Sturridge, Alberto Moreno, Nathaniel Clyne, Adam Lallana, Wijnaldum, Divock Origi, Loris Karius, Firmino, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain, Naby Keita and Thiago Alcantara all left the club on free transfers after their own big-money moves to Anfield - along with the likes of Matip and James Milner who were signed on Bosman transfers.
While you can’t dispute the departure of most of these players, Liverpool spent over £300m combined when signing them and then banked nothing when they left. If Robertson, Salah, Van Dijk, Alisson, Konate and Diaz do all see out their contracts and leave for nothing, that total will rise to over £575m.
But the Reds have been actually quite forward-thinking when it comes to the modern transfer market, with Bosman transfers becoming an increasingly common trend in recent years.
When faced with expiring contracts, Klopp would regularly defend Liverpool’s stance as he pointed out that the club was in a stronger position for retaining their existing players rather than cashing in to avoid them leaving for nothing, and then having to fork out on replacements who might not be as good or at least take time to settle.
But while Liverpool have retained the majority of their starting players in recent years, making sure they milk the absolute most out of their talents throughout the entirety of their peak years, the Reds are actually also taking advantage of another recent market trend to raise maximum funds.
Liverpool have instead raised an eye-catching amount from selling academy talent - who cost them nothing - and fringe players, and earned plenty of plaudits in the process from doing so too.
This summer alone, they have already banked £28m for Alexander-Arnold and Caoimhin Kelleher - who only had a year left on his contract.
And while they would have received a lot more for selling Alexander-Arnold in the middle of his contract, they instead retained his services for as long as possible, enjoying his peak years to date as helped Liverpool win every major honour including a second Premier League title, but receiving £10m for a player with just a month left on his expiring deal.
Meanwhile, the Reds are set to sell Jarell Quansah to Bayer Leverkusen in a £35m deal. Some eyebrows might be raised at the decision, considering he had previously been mooted as a long-term successor for Van Dijk, but the centre-back is still a slightly raw 22-year-old with 30 Premier League appearances under his belt.
It would be no surprise if the likes of Harvey Elliott, Ben Doak, Tyler Morton or even Joe Gomez were also sold for significant fees this summer, having found themselves on the fringes at Anfield. The quartet cost Liverpool £7.4m but could depart for a combined fee north of £100m.
This is not a new phenomenon at Anfield, with the Reds receiving £62.5m when selling Fabio Carvalho, Sepp van den Berg and Bobby Clark last summer. Combined, they had made only 19 Premier League appearances for the club.
In the summer of 2022, Neco Williams was sold to Nottingham Forest for £17.5m. The year before, Harry Wilson, Taiwo Awoniyi, Kamil Grabara and Liam Millar all departed for roughly £25m. And in 2020, Liverpool received roughly £42m from selling Rhian Brewster, Ki-Jana Hoever, Ovie Ejaria and Herbie Kane.
In 2019, the Reds pocketed £17.5m when selling Rafa Camacho, Ryan Kent and Allan, while they received roughly £45m for Dominic Solanke and Danny Ward in the summer of 2018 - courtesy of clauses and add-ons following the striker’s £65m switch to Tottenham Hotspur last summer at least.
Going further back, they received £12.5m for Andre Wisdom and Kevin Stewart and £29m for Jordon Ibe, Brad Smith, Sergi Canos and Jerome Sinclair. And this isn’t considering the significant fees they also received for selling wantaway stars or fringe senior players along the way.
In less than a decade, Liverpool have made over £300m from selling academy graduates and youngsters signed from other clubs - some of whom never even made a Premier League appearance for the club. A massive part of the club’s model under FSG, that in itself virtually paid for that 2019 Champions League winning XI.
Eyebrows might be raised when a Reds star sees out his contract before leaving for nothing or when the club cash in on a highly-rated youngster, but that 'controversial' transfer model is what makes Liverpool self-sustainable.
The Reds have been transfer visionaries. Given that they have won every major honour including two Premier League titles over the past decade, they must be doing something right.