Jurgen Klopp hints at next Liverpool transfer as midfield overhaul faces new scrutiny

Liverpool have completed an £150m midfield overhaul this summer but that can’t be the end of Jurgen Klopp’s transfer surgery

This summer Liverpool have had to do in three months what it previously took them three years to – overhaul a successful position in Jurgen Klopp’s once all-conquering side.

There was a period when the Reds’ attacking triumvirate of Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane looked unbreakable, untouchable and irreplaceable. Klopp would even refer to the trio as exactly that in his latest press conference.

“We had for a few years, the front three was irreplaceable,” the German conceded on Friday. “And somehow, we made it happen. We made it happen.”

Since winning the Premier League, Liverpool’s recruitment team have done the previously unthinkable.

While the bargain signing of Takumi Minamino ultimately didn’t quite work out, Diogo Jota proved it was possible to break up Salah x Firmino x Mane after joining from Wolves for £45m in September 2020. And over the last 18 months, the Reds have successfully unearthed long-term replacements for the latter pair after snapping up Luis Diaz and Cody Gakpo.

Throw in the potential club-record signing of Darwin Nunez last summer and even though exactly how he fits into Klopp’s starting XI remains unclear, Liverpool’s attack is stronger than ever.

In truth, the Reds have benefitted from this gradual succession plan and ‘soft launch’ of their next attack. Both Diaz and Gakpo were afforded half a season alongside Mane and Firmino respectively, avoiding the ‘direct replacement’ label and accompanying pressure in the process, before emerging as exactly that.

Meanwhile, Nunez is being treated with similar patience despite a transfer fee that could rise to £85m. “In a world, a crazy world where nobody gets time anymore, we somehow managed to buy some time and now we go from here,” Klopp said of the Uruguayan last week.

In truth, this overhaul is not complete yet. Salah remains at Anfield, having signed a new three-year contract to become the best-paid player in Liverpool’s history last summer. Yet thanks to Saudi Arabia, the Reds are being forced into contemplating life beyond the Egyptian.

An £150m bid from Al-Ittihad was rejected earlier this week, with Liverpool bosses adamant Salah is not for sale. Whether that resolve is tested further before the Saudi Pro League transfer deadline on September 7 remains to be seen, though the Reds would loathe to lose their talisman now, no matter what the fee, with it now impossible for them to sign a replacement until their own transfer window reopens in January.

Of course, even if Liverpool retain Salah’s services now, Saudi Arabia will come calling again. The most high-profile Muslim footballer in the world, an eventual switch to the Gulf state feels inevitable. Next summer would offer the Reds a last chance to bank a considerable fee – while the forward could move on as a free agent in 2025.

But regardless of the outcome of this saga, Liverpool bosses will again favour a gradual succession plan as they look to do the impossible and replace one of their greatest-ever players. Consider the likes of Harvey Elliott, Ben Doak, and Kaide Gordon and you could perhaps argue that such a stratagem is already quietly underway, even if a big-money replacement will obviously be desired when the time comes.

When it comes to replacing the irreplaceable attack, the ‘soft launch’ plan has paid dividends for Klopp. But he has been afforded no such patience when it comes to revamping his midfield.

A long-awaited engine-room overhaul has been on the agenda at Anfield for some time. Yet after missing out on Aurelien Tchouameni to Real Madrid last summer, and with Borussia Dortmund not yet willing to cash in on Jude Bellingham, the Reds opted to wait until this summer to initiate the next stage of their squad development.

In hindsight, that was a mistake with Liverpool’s struggles last year speaking for themselves as they failed to qualify for the Champions League. Consequently, acknowledging they needed more than just one marquee new midfielder, they withdrew from the race to sign Bellingham back in April.

But even when planning multiple new midfield arrivals this summer, the Reds were not yet aware as to the extent they would have to reinvent their wheel.

Sure, they knew James Milner, Naby Keita and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain would all be departing at the end of their contracts. And they also moved quickly to bring in both Alexis Mac Allister and Dominik Szoboszlai before the start of pre-season.

But Saudi interest in both Jordan Henderson and Fabinho caught the club off-guard. Ultimately waving off both midfielders, Klopp was left with no lieutenants who had won all there was to win at Anfield to pass on the baton to the next generation.

With Ryan Gravenberch arriving from Bayern Munich on transfer deadline day, joining Mac Allister, Szoboszlai and Wataru Endo as part of an £150m midfield overhaul, what comes next is entirely new.

“We pretty much have to reinvent the team,” Klopp acknowledged on Friday before Gravenberch was officially a Liverpool player. “The midfield is now already and will be completely new.

“We had to do that in a season where we didn’t qualify for the Champions League. Last year we qualified but this year we didn’t which has a massive impact. That’s how it is. I know people expect it to be different but it is how it is.

“I really think we did good business. The players we brought in are really good, will help the team, will even get better. I think especially for Macca and Dom, everybody can see that already.

“For Endo it is a massive step, massive change in the way he used to play and the way we play, so that obviously needs a bit of time to get there, but it is no problem…

“Yes, we got younger – but we had to. We are less experienced but that is normal but we are full of desire and I love this team.”

He continued: “The natural skillset is obvious but we had to replace and change the most successful midfield in the young [recent] history of this club. Fabinho, Henderson, Milner, Gini Wijnaldum a few years ago. All had big, big parts in the team. Naby, Oxlade, they all played big parts in that midfield.

“In our best periods, I remember that you asked me the question if we had enough of a goal threat from this midfield, when we scored all the goals from the front line. I think we have much more goal threat in midfield now, that is definitely the case!

“But the work-rate these guys put in, the stability they gave us, that was second-to-none and that is what we have to create as well…I think it is clear the players we brought in have real quality, are young and in a super-way really excited about the opportunity of being here, so that’s a cool mix.”

Liverpool are now well placed for the future in midfield, with Endo and Thiago Alcantara, who is set to leave at the end of his contract next summer, the only Reds midfielders over the age of 24. Mac Allister is 24, while Szoboszlai and Gravenberch are aged 22 and 21 respectively. Meanwhile, Curtis Jones (22), Harvey Elliott (20), and Stefan Bajcetic (18) complete Klopp’s senior midfield contingent.

Yet having been denied the preferred gradual succession model in this instance, overnight success is by no means guaranteed or expected. Liverpool will still have to show patience to get back to their very best.

And as much as they have faced scrutiny to revamp their midfield in recent years, they are about to face even more as the success of such surgery, in challenging circumstances, now goes under the microscope.

Such a scenario is their reality but far from ideal, considering they have been forced to build a midfield with no previous experience of playing together. Given the importance of in-sync on-pitch relationships to play for Klopp, and how long it can take to get up to speed with his demands, starting from square one is problematic. The club have ultimately taken one step backwards in a bid to later move two steps forward.

“We are still in that moment where we have to create something new,” Klopp admitted on Friday. “We have new key players in, in key positions on the pitch. How can we just be there and go? We have to fight into that. We have to work into that…

“I’m fine with it but I don’t know where we go from here because it’s the start. But my ambitions are super. Honestly, I stood in the dressing room, had a look, and I love this team. It’s a well set-up team. Let’s go, let’s go.”

In truth, the midfield revamp might not be quite complete given Thiago’s Anfield expiry date, the same as the uncertainty regarding Salah’s future ensures there is one card left to play. But once such business has been addressed, it is clear what comes next in the transfer market for Liverpool.

“Over the last few years we had to do the same with our front line,” Klopp said of his squad’s overhaul. “The most stable area is obviously the last line but now not because of the injury and suspension.”

Referring to being without Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk to face Aston Villa this weekend, the Reds are left with only Joel Matip and Joe Gomez as their available senior centre-back options. Meanwhile, having made his Liverpool debut as a substitute against Newcastle, teenager Jarell Quansah is Klopp’s only reserve option as they are given a premature glimpse into the future.

But it’s clear, having revamped the majority of their attack and midfield, that the Reds’ previously stable defence will be next on the agenda. With Van Dijk and Matip both aged 32, the latter out of contract next summer, and Andy Robertson set to turn 30 next year, how can it not be?