Paul Gorst looks ahead to Sunday's visit from Manchester City and assesses the importance of Champions League qualification at Liverpool
Jennifer Ashton, Tom Werner, John Henry, Linda Pizzuti Henry, Michael Gordon and Arne Slot
(Image: (Michael Regan/Getty Images/Getty Images For The Premier League))
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In a perverse sort of way, the importance of Liverpool's form and fortunes in the Premier League have only grown since their title drifted irretrievably away from them earlier this season.
Coming up just short in a title race, as has been the case on at least three of the six campaigns this decade, is no major disgrace. Finishing as runners-up or even further back in third presents the club itself with no major obstacles to hurdle down the line as a result.
So while supporters may have been crestfallen at the 92-point, runners-up finish of 2022 or lamented the fading away of the Jurgen Klopp teams of 2021 and 2024, those working on the inside have been content in the knowledge that Liverpool will, to coin an often-used football phrase, 'go again' the following term.
Failure to secure Champions League qualification, however, presents an all-together different problem for Liverpool, particularly given the model imposed by club owners Fenway Sports Group.
Arne Slot spoke last week about that "model of sustainability", saying before the visit of Newcastle United: "That’s why everyone talks about £450m [spent in the summer] but that’s why we had to recoup £300m.
"So that’s our model and I am not frustrated about that. Maybe I am a little bit frustrated that too many people don’t notice what our model is. They are talking about £450m but it’s £300m recouped.
"I am totally not frustrated as that’s the model I stepped in to and I even embrace it. It’s a good model to have for any club. I am frustrated that sometimes people don’t notice it but we were able to achieve a lot of good things since this ownership is here with this model of sustainability."
Those figures, specifically the £300m referenced for outgoings, have been disputed on these pages but the general point still stands from the Reds' boss.
Liverpool are bound, and always will be, to the strict strategy of FSG and while that has at times proven to be a bone of contention when it comes to player recruitment for some supporters, the £60m capture of Jeremy Jacquet this week now takes the spending since 2024 to an enormous figure of around £510m, inclusive of add-ons.
Those who have always clamoured for this level of spending finally have their wish and it speaks to the rude financial health the club is in that they have been willing and able to break their transfer record twice in the same summer with the captures of £116m Florian Wirtz and £125m Alexander Isak.
Figures released by the influential Deloitte Money League last month placed Liverpool as first in the Premier League for revenue, with the Reds sitting pretty on £727m, as converted by currency exchange website XE.com.
“Liverpool’s strong performance was driven by on-pitch performance," said Marco D'Elia, assistant director at Deloitte Sport Business Group. "Champions League revenues and a 7% increase in their commercial revenues."
The value of Champions League football, clearly, cannot be understated and it's why the Reds' battle for a spot in the top four - or five, as is expected - is now even more vital than a joust for the title itself.
Liverpool have only spent one season outside of Europe's most lucrative competition since 2017 and the hit the coffers take when they are in the inferior Europa League is noticeable in the financial figures that are published the following year. Liverpool's numbers for the season of 2023/24, for example, when they were beaten in the quarter-finals by eventual winners Atalanta, show an overall loss before tax of £57m from the previous year. Media revenue shrunk by as much as £38m, which owed to the fortunes that are on offer for televised Champions League games that they were not a part of in the 2023/24 campaign. For a club who spent around £450m in the summer and only recouped roughly half through player sales, the prospect of missing out must be causing some concern behind the scenes as we enter the second week of February.
"The sort of journey we've been on since 2010, the last 15 years, and it sounds contrite or simplistic to [say we want to] continue that journey," CEO Billy Hogan said this week.
"We always felt that the term 'sleeping giant' was used when FSG was looking at Liverpool in terms of this incredible potential the club had and it had obviously fallen on some difficult times. "Our job and our focus has been on returning it to its rightful place and that job is frankly never done and that is something we're constantly working on. Improvements we've made from an infrastructure standpoint and continued investment in the squad and this about winning trophies, making the fans happy and proud of the team."
'Winning trophies', as Hogan rightly outlines as the ultimate Anfield aim, remains a possibility this season as the FA Cup and Champions League campaigns go on but the fight for qualification to Europe's most lucrative competition is just as important for the long term now.
There is no silverware given to exceptional balance sheets but progress of this next Anfield era will undoubtedly be hampered if only the Europa League is on offer to potential summer targets.
It's why Sunday's visit from Manchester City has taken on extra significance this week. So often in the last decade it has been a fixture that would have a large say in the destination of the championship itself and while that remains the case where leaders Arsenal are concerned, for Liverpool, victory over Pep Guardiola's second-placed City will only embolden that top-four push.
It may not necessarily have been the primary aim when the season got underway in August but qualification to the Champions League is no less imperative now. Anfield, as ever, will expect on Sunday afternoon.
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