Paul Gorst writes on the danger of Liverpool missing out on the Champions League places after Saturday's 3-2 loss at Bournemouth
BOURNEMOUTH, ENGLAND - JANUARY 24: Arne Slot manager / head coach of Liverpool during the Premier League match between Bournemouth and Liverpool at Vitality Stadium on January 24, 2026 in Bournemouth, England. (Photo by Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
Arne Slot during the Premier League match between Bournemouth and Liverpool at Vitality Stadium on January 24, 2026(Image: Catherine Ivill - AMA/Getty Images)
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Having regrouped, tightened up and gone back to basics at the end of November, Arne Slot appeared to have stabilised Liverpool.
A deeply unhappy sequence of nine defeats in 12 across a two-month period left everything being questioned as December approached but by the end of 2025, they were in the driving seat for Champions League qualification and while the football was some way short of setting pulses racing for a full 90 minutes, a steady climb back up the table was undeniable.
The 2-1 win over Wolves on December 27, their last victory in the league, sent the defending champions into fourth, three points clear of Chelsea and Manchester United, the two clubs who many regard as the Reds' biggest rivals for the Champions League spots.
It's likely that fifth will once more also be declared as a Champions League place but two into three still won't go. It's why the start of 2026 could yet be so damaging to a club whose entire modus operandi is almost predicated around the riches provided by the European Cup.
A total of four points from the last 15 on offer has set Liverpool back and they are looking up once more, hoping for slip-ups.
Only once since 2017 have the Reds spent a season outside of Europe's most lucrative competition and the financial hit the club takes when they are in the inferior Europa League is noticeable.
Liverpool's financial figures for the season of 2023/24 - when they were beaten in the quarter-finals of the Europa League by Atalanta - show an overall loss before tax of £57m from the previous year.
Match-day revenue (£22m), commercial revenue (£36m) and overall revenue (£20m) were all on the up that year but the contrast was stark for the club's media revenue, which shrunk by as much as £38m, largely owing to the money on offer for televised Champions League games that they were not a part of.
For a club who spent around £450m in the summer and only recouped roughly half through player sales, the prospect of having its noses pressed to the glass when next season's competition begins must be troubling.
The revamped nature of the competition at the start of last season means more games and more income and it was estimated that Liverpool's run to the last 16, where they were beaten by eventual winners Paris Saint-Germain, earned them a fee of around £82m.
Another strong showing in a competition where they have fared much better than in the Premier League will obviously be a welcome boost but the trials and tribulations on the domestic front now have ratcheted up the pressure on Wednesday's game against Azerbaijan side Qarabag. Victory will at least confirm qualification, without the need for a tough, two-legged play-off.
Given the way cautious and risk-averse way the Reds have generally been run during the near 16-year tenure of owners Fenway Sports Group, it is certain that the summer's window spend - a period that saw them break their transfer record twice for the £116m Florian Wirtz and the £125m Alexander Isak - won't have been embarked upon with scant regard for future financing.
Liverpool, from top to bottom, are simply run too smoothly and smartly to jeopardise their long-term prosperity for the sake of an enormous transfer outlay across one summer window. The figures reported from this week's Deloitte Money League report, which placed the Reds as recording the highest revenues in England, is indicative of the operation at the top end of the club.
But there can also be no doubt that even factoring in the outgoings, the money Liverpool spent to reupholster their squad last summer still reached a record level and questions remain about how much more is needed in the 2026 window.
For a club who won the title before forking out eye-watering figures on players like Wirtz, Isak, the £79m Hugo Ekitike and the £40m Milos Kerkez, they should not need to do this much work on squad planning for later this year. This season, however, is proof that gaps remain and depth is an issue.
It's why missing out on the Champions League would prove to be a doubly big hammer blow and why major questions will be asked of head coach Arne Slot, sporting director Richard Hughes should that come to pass.
These next few months are quietly pivotal to the coming years at Anfield. That will be reflected in the accounts either way.