The Liverpool Offside 2025-26 Season Preview, Part 2: An Unexpected Rebuild
Last summer, Liverpool surprised everyone by having an exceptionally quiet summer transfer window. More business was always expected ahead of manager Arne Slot’s second season, then, but given the Reds went on to win the Premier League last season with an essentially unchanged squad, most were probably expecting tweaks targeting improving the depth to be the story of the 2025 summer.
Instead, this offseason has been as surprising as last year’s. Only now, the surprise is at how much change has taken place. In attack and defence in particular there have been significant outgoings, and the squad still rather appears in flux with the Premier League season days away from kicking off. With all the changes, there’s obvious excitement—but also some concern. In part two of our season preview, we wanted to dig into the changes made so far and look at what work still needs to be done.
I’ve told people all summer that I’ve been a little surprised by our activity, and I think the specific aspect of that surprise is down to the level of player we’ve been recruiting. Even if you thought the club might have been able to move for a talent at the level of Florian Wirtz or Hugo Ekitike (or potentially Alexander Isak), I wouldn’t have guessed Liverpool would ever be in for all of them.
More, I wouldn’t really have put money on the club being willing and able to throw around the kind of cash it’ll take get all three on-board, which it appears the team is at least absolutely pushing for. There’s less surprise to be found with Jeremie Frimpong and Milos Kerkez, the sort of players who were always gonna need to be brought in following the departure of Trent Alexander-Arnold and with a succession plan needed for Andy Robertson.
So it was always going to be a busier summer than last year, but reloading the attack and doing so with this mix of ready-made quality and sky-high potential? And only really doing our shopping amongst the elite of Europe’s elite? I wouldn’t have guessed it. It has been a bit disorienting at times, to be sure. I still can’t count the times I’ve mentioned not being used to being on this side of transfer sagas, or just finding myself giggling at the thought of Ekitike and Wirtz (and potentially Isak) tearing defences apart.
In the end, though, I’m most excited because ownership have really invested to ensure that Slot and Co. get to defend their title with real weapons at the ready. And, on that note, I think it’s best to leave it here with one request: give Richard Hughes his flowers (and maynbe even a pay raise). My guy came in for so much heat last year and has now proved he was just saving his powder for the right moment, and now he’s got both a league title and a completely revamped squad to show for it.
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Hugo Ekitike of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammates Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong during the 2025 FA Community Shield match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Hugo Ekitike of Liverpool celebrates scoring his team’s first goal with teammates Florian Wirtz and Jeremie Frimpong during the 2025 FA Community Shield match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
I’m going to be real with you, after the departure of Darwin Nuñez and with the expected departure of Kostas Tsimikas, I have no idea how we’re going to replace the squad’s xH (expected himbo). I’m hoping our Hungarian Duo can step up to the challenge and at least go a long way towards replicating last season’s xH, though, so we might be in good nick.
More seriously, though, there are obviously risks to so much turnover for a side that cruised to the league title and were a penalty shootout against the eventual winners away from a deeper run in the Champions League. All of this wheeling and dealing is also risky because, as of this writing, we are still at least one attacker short and one defender short—though today’s Marc Guéhi news goes a long way towards answering the latter issue.
If Liverpool can get that deal done and then pry Isak away from Newcastle before the bonesaws come out, too, it will be a phenomenal window. Even then, though, we still might be one short on attack, especially since we will lose Mo Salah for six weeks during the winter for AFCON. All of this said, despite last season’s success the squad probably needed an overhaul, especially in attack, and it’ll be exciting to see how we play now that Arne Slot has more of “his guys” in.
I’m usually pretty reserved when it comes to new signings if only because I don’t do a whole lot of scouting of other teams and other leagues until we’re linked with someone, and even then I’m usually cautious, especially if high price tags are involved. I want players to prove themselves and I don’t want to be too disappointed if they don’t flourish immediately. This makes me an outlier I guess.
So Sunday’s Community Shield was the first real chance I had to pay close attention to some the new signings and wow. Wow. That attack was something else in the first half before everyone ran out of gas. Despite winning the league it was pretty clear we needed some fresh legs, and boy did they deliver. Granted, it remains to be seen what Slot and the club will do with the rest of the time that we have to sign players (I think it’s pretty clear we do need another CB), but the talent, speed, and enthusiasm for the game that Ekitike, Frimpong, Kerkez, and Wirtz brought to the squad is pretty undeniable.
I still have major questions about Slot’s use of subs and rotating the squad at the right time in general, but those new signings make Liverpool feel unstoppable, even for a fan like me who tends to approach new transfers with a healthy dose of skepticism.
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Alisson Becker, Milos Kerkez, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, and Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool embrace during the 2025 FA Community Shield match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
LONDON, ENGLAND - AUGUST 10: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Alisson Becker, Milos Kerkez, Mohamed Salah, Cody Gakpo, and Dominik Szoboszlai of Liverpool embrace during the 2025 FA Community Shield match between Crystal Palace and Liverpool at Wembley Stadium on August 10, 2025 in London, England. (Photo by Liverpool FC/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
Wirtz! Frimpong! Kerkez! Ekitike! The pace at which Liverpool have moved for their targets this summer and more than that even the level of target they’ve been moving for has been stunning to watch. With Florian Wirtz in particular, I don’t know that Liverpool have ever—at least not in the Premier League era when transfers started to become so core to club success—signed a player with that kind of a generational talent aura.
To be clear, Liverpool have signed some very, very big names over the years. But typically they’ve signed stars and made them superstars. That’s what they did with Virgil van Dijk and Alisson Becker. And a player like Mohamed Salah probably wasn’t even considered at that level by the broader footballing world when he arrived. Going back through the years, perhaps the only player I can think of who comes close—the player everyone wanted and who, seemingly against all odds, decided Liverpool was the club for him—is Fernando Torres. And now there’s Florian Wirtz. And Frimpong and Kerkez and Ekitike are damn good, too. Plus oh hey there, Giorgi Mamardashvili.
If that was the sum of it, I think we’d all be tempted to call it the best transfer window in the history of transfer windows. At the very least it’d be the best window Liverpool have ever had. But that, I think, would be a little bit premature given the outgoings. Because whew have there been a lot of outgoings. And with days to go before the Premier League season kicks off, the sum of the ins and outs might actually leave a weaker squad than the one that ended last season.
All signs do point to the holes in the squad being filled, by Marc Guéhi at centre half and Alexander Isak at striker if the club get there way, but there have been an awful lot of changes and there’s still work to be done. Right here and now, Liverpool’s first choice eleven looks mighty tasty. With Wirtz and Frimpong and Kerkez and Ekitike to point to, it’s been one hell of a window any way you slice it. But it’s important now that Richard Hughes and the recruitment team manage to finish the job.
Nabbing Florian Wirtz, a world-class player nobody thought Liverpool had a chance to sign before the window opened, means there’s no way this transfer window can be deemed anything other than a blockbuster success.
As for the other signings, Kerkez, Ekitike, Frimpong, and Mamardashvili all feel like well-scouted players, with clear stylistic reasons for how they fit in the squad. It’s more stellar work from probably Europe’s best recruiting team over the past decade. I don’t really have worries about how any of them will fit in. If we do get Isak and a centre half as expected, it will difficult to give this window anything but an A+.
It’s somewhat wild that for Slot’s first season, his challenge was to coach a squad with no signings, and now his challenge will be to get all the signings up to speed as quickly as possible. That’s just crazy.
TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 28: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Arne Slot head coach of Liverpool during a pre-season training session at Japan Football Association Yume on July 28, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
TOKYO, JAPAN - JULY 28: (THE SUN OUT, THE SUN ON SUNDAY OUT) Arne Slot head coach of Liverpool during a pre-season training session at Japan Football Association Yume on July 28, 2025 in Tokyo, Japan. (Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images)
Liverpool FC via Getty Images
We always knew there were going to be changes this summer after only bringing in Frederico Chiesa last year. I just didn’t expect it to be, well, THIS. Richard Hughes, given the password to Michael Edward’s laptop and John Henry’s bank account, has been quick to lock down two new starting-caliber fullbacks along with scoring an absolute coup by signing the seemingly unattainable Florian Wirtz.
With a raft of changes in attack, Liverpool were able to secure one of the elite young strikers in the game in Hugo Ekitike as well. All of these players are 24 or younger, providing a new young core ready to take the reins.
While a lot of really good business has been done, though, there is definitely sill a need for at least two additional players, and potentially three. People have been beating the drum for another centre half since before the window opened, and that need was only been exacerbated by the departure of Jarell Quansah. It seems likely Liverpool will sign at least one, and it could even be two with potentially a young talent arriving in addition to a more established player.
The attack also needs additional depth after the departures of Luis Diaz and Darwin Nunez, as well as the death of Diogo Jota. Liverpool’s approach for Alexander Isak may or may not come to fruition, though it is still a bit of a head scratcher to have spent so much on Ekitike and then potentially have him serve primarily as backup across the front line. It’s not my money, though, and the Reds certainly need at least one more forward. No matter how talented he is, asking 16-year-old Rio Ngumoha to be the primary attacking backup doesn’t seem as if it would be an ideal situation, and one that could potentially backfire for the player’s development.