An exciting summer full of Liverpool transfer news is in store after Arne Slot guided the club to the Premier League title in 2024-25.
Last time Liverpool won the league, they spent more than £70m on strengthening their squad. This time, expect them to fork out even more money on new signings. Indeed, one of their current top targets would cost more than that alone.
Despite their dominance over the other 19 teams in the Premier League in Slot’s debut season, there are areas of the squad that need refreshing in order to stay at the top of the tree next time out.
After a quiet summer in 2024, as our sources have been predicting since February, it could be a record-breaking window this time around at Anfield.
Here, TEAMtalk will have the five players most heavily linked with a move to Liverpool – whether they go on to make that many signings or not – as the summer transfer window progresses.
The evolving list starts with the most likely player to join the club before working its way down, and we’ve given an estimated transfer fee for each player based on reports.
Jeremie Frimpong
Current club: Bayer Leverkusen
Age: 24
Position: Right-back
Estimated transfer fee: £29.5m
The most immediate priority for Liverpool this summer is to find a new right-back, since Trent Alexander-Arnold has confirmed he’s leaving his boyhood club.
Promoting Conor Bradley to the starting role would have been one option, but Liverpool can’t overlook the numbers and have swiftly got to work on finding a first-team replacement for the Real Madrid-bound Alexander-Arnold.
The player they have zoned in on is Jeremie Frimpong, who has put up some impressive numbers in the Bundesliga with Bayer Leverkusen.
Frimpong arrived in the UK on Wednesday to finalise his move to Liverpool, which will cost close to £30m.
Formerly in the Manchester City academy before going on to play for Celtic and Leverkusen, it will give Frimpong his first taste of Premier League action.
Questions could be raised on if he’s the right profile to replace Alexander-Arnold, since he’s more used to playing as a wing-back in a 3-4-3 formation, but the man he’s replacing wasn’t the most defensive full-back either, so Liverpool will hope his attacking pros can outweigh any defensive cons.
This is the Liverpool signing closest to completion, since Frimpong has already completed a medical and Liverpool have met his release clause. It’s just down to the formalities now.
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Florian Wirtz
Current club: Bayer Leverkusen
Age: 22
Position: Attacking midfield
Estimated transfer fee: £125m
Liverpool have been working on making it a double raid on Leverkusen with what would be one of the most eye-catching moves of the summer.
They’ve put in a bid for attacking midfielder Florian Wirtz; if accepted, he would become their new record signing.
Wirtz was previously linked with Manchester City, but that trail has frozen over. Bayern Munich have also been in the hunt, but they now think he’s Liverpool-bound.
The only threat Liverpool might have to keep an eye on would be Real Madrid, where Xabi Alonso could try and get Wirtz to follow him.
But it’s Liverpool whose bid Leverkusen need to respond to and there’s confidence a deal is still on track.
As a playmaker, Wirtz would be most likely to fit into the no.10 role in Slot’s favoured 4-2-3-1 formation. That may make him seem like a luxury addition given they already have Dominik Szoboszlai there, but the Germany international has the better record for goal involvements and adding him would be a serious statement of intent about Liverpool not resting on their laurels.
READ MORE : What elite managers are saying about Florian Wirtz as Liverpool prepare to break records
Milos Kerkez
Current club: Bournemouth
Age: 21
Position: Left-back
Estimated transfer fee: £45m
While signing a new right-back is a necessity for Liverpool, signing a new left-back could be just as important.
At the peak of his powers, Andy Robertson was half of one of the deadliest combinations of full-backs in world football, along with Alexander-Arnold on the opposite side.
However, Robertson suffered from a decline in form in 2024-25, so Liverpool have been working on signing an upgrade.
There’s no doubt about who the top target is. Richard Hughes signed Milos Kerkez at Bournemouth and now he wants to repeat the trick.
Kerkez will cost a lot more this time around after two years of Premier League experience, but the player himself has given his full approval to a move to Liverpool.
Talks are ongoing with Bournemouth about the deal, with Fabrizio Romano recently confirming the contact between the two clubs is frequent.
Hugo Ekitike
Current club: Eintracht Frankfurt
Age: 22
Position: Striker
Estimated transfer fee: £84m
After sorting out the full-back areas, the next thing Liverpool could be looking for is a striker upgrade.
Darwin Nunez scored only five goals in the 2024-25 Premier League, so you can imagine Slot might be wondering how much more success Liverpool could have if their main striker was capable of getting three or four times that tally.
Alexander Isak would have been a dream target for Liverpool, but in terms of the five most likely players to join them, he’ll now be nowhere near after Newcastle United qualified for the Champions League to strengthen their chances of keeping him.
Instead, Liverpool are focusing firmly on Eintracht Frankfurt’s Hugo Ekitike, who scored 15 goals in the 2024-25 Bundesliga.
A young striker to invest in, Ekitike might not necessarily be an instant hit either, but he has plenty of upside. There’s competition from elsewhere, so Liverpool might need to bid high, but he’s the target they’re most engaged with for the striker role at present.
There’s been no official offer, but Florian Plettenberg – an expert source on German football – has confirmed talks have taken place, with Slot’s green light.
Jorrel Hato
Current club: Ajax
Age: 19
Position: Centre-back/Left-back
Estimated transfer fee: £42m
Further down the list of moves to expect from Liverpool this summer, they might be in the market for a new centre-back.
Virgil van Dijk has extended his contract for another two years, but given his age, Liverpool would like to bring in a long-term successor who can learn from the club captain.
They would have been interested in Dean Huijsen before Real Madrid won the race to sign him from Bournemouth, but will now have to consider other options.
One option Liverpool have been confirmed as admirers of by experts like Fabrizio Romano is Ajax youngster Jorrel Hato.
Hato has actually spent most of this season playing as a left-back, so wouldn’t be as much of a priority if Liverpool can bring Kerkez in, but he did develop as a centre-back and Liverpool don’t have any left-footers in that role.
With that in mind, they have also been looking at RB Leipzig’s Castello Lukeba, TEAMtalk recently revealed.
They have put the work in for Hato, but may face competition from elsewhere. As a Dutch player, though, he could be tempted to become part of Slot’s evolving project.
Meanwhile, Liverpool could consider signing a new defensive midfielder, so keep an eye out for any updates to this article if something starts looking more likely on that front.
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