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It was during Liverpool’s Premier League title celebrations at the five-star Municipal Hotel in the heart of the city last May that an extraordinary summer of transfer activity kicked off.
The two men who devised it, Fenway Sports Group CEO of football Michael Edwards and sporting director Richard Hughes, peeled away to close a deal that appeared not only smart but set the tone for a flurry of moves that led to the inevitable declaration: Liverpool had won the window and would blow away the opposition.
Having initially been offered less than £1m by Real Madrid to sign Trent Alexander-Arnold in time for the Club World Cup, the pair extracted a fee (and savings in wages) that was 10 times that much. Those details were disputed by Madrid, who claimed it was half that – for a player who was out of contract a few weeks later and could walk away for nothing.
It also confirmed that
Edwards and Hughes, who go back more than 20 years having first met at Portsmouth FC, were the axis of power at Anfield. They will define the post Jürgen Klopp-era at Liverpool more than head coach Arne Slot. And that means they should also come under scrutiny given the current crisis.
When the Alexander-Arnold deal was announced, Liverpool seamlessly confirmed the signing of Jeremie Frimpong by triggering his £29.5m release clause at Bayer Leverkusen. The fans’ reaction was euphoric.
The brief was that Frimpong, who it was said Liverpool had been aware of for 15 years, was not a like-for-like replacement but provided a versatile option for their entire right flank. Especially with Mohamed Salah going to the Africa Cup of Nations this season.
When Frimpong was followed from Leverkusen by his close friend Florian Wirtz the excitement grew even further and what Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk had declared would be a “big summer” was under way.
In a comment that now feels incredibly relevant Van Dijk also added: “So we all have to trust the board to do the right job.”
The question now – and with the focus so sharply on Slot’s future after nine defeats in 12 games and the worst run of results in 72 years (when Liverpool were relegated) – is
whether that board has delivered and whether that trust was, actually, misplaced?
Of course the focus is on Slot. How can it not be? Can he arrest the slide? Can he survive? Not if this continues. That is logical.
The head coach, the manager, is always the first one to pay the price as he is the frontman, the one paid to get the best out of the squad, the one who is the easiest to change.
We are in unprecedented territory. Champions have mounted terrible title defences before, and not least in recent history with Leicester City and Chelsea. But never in these circumstances.
Never when it appeared so harmonious. Never having gone through a summer like this with more than £700m of deals in and out creating such an air of positivity. Liverpool spent £449m, the most ever in one window in the Premier League, and recouped £260m. Liverpool brought in nine players and sold or loaned eight. And such huge overhauls at clubs are rarely easy. Witness Tottenham Hotspur in 2013-14 after selling Gareth Bale and with Everton in 2017-18 under Farhad Moshiri.
But it was more the scale of the deals, and not just the numbers, that was so stunning. Twice they broke their transfer record with the £125m signing of Alexander Isak following the £116m spent on Wirtz. There was also the £79m for Hugo Ekitike.
Much of this was needed and some of it was, sadly, out of Liverpool’s hands. There was not just Alexander-Arnold’s decision to leave, having rejected a new contract, but Luis Díaz successfully agitated to go and there was the tragedy of Diogo Jota’s death, the force of which is still being felt and absolutely has to be considered.
But, above all, there was also the sense that having effectively won the league last season with Klopp’s team that Edwards, Hughes and Slot wanted to put their own imprint on Liverpool.
There is no doubt that Slot wanted to evolve Liverpool’s style. He has said as much and hinted they could not carry on like last season when, despite winning the title, they won only 10 of their 56 matches by more than two goals. For the head coach they did not create enough chances and, in particular, the manner of the Champions League exit to Paris St-Germain hurt.
The coups of persuading Van Dijk and Salah to sign new contracts do not look quite so clever given their current form while also allowing Ibrahima Konaté to go into the final year of his deal has backfired.
His drop-off has been alarming and highlighted even more the failure to sign Marc Guéhi on deadline day. Although Liverpool will argue that they were unfortunate that Giovanni Leoni then suffered a serious, season-ending injury
were they really going to depend on an 18-year-old central defender?
It is said that both Hughes and Edwards, who is in his second spell at Liverpool having been persuaded to return, are good at resisting outside noise.
They will need to rely on that now because, with the benefit of hindsight, it is not difficult to pick apart their transfer business.
Isak and Wirtz were the centrepieces of a rebuild but the former arrived unfit and is somehow still unfit and the latter was surely bought to have the team operate around him. But that has not happened. And did they really need to keep pursuing Isak once Ekitike was signed?
Hughes wanted Milos Kerkez, having signed him for Bournemouth, but he does not appear suited to Liverpool’s style. Having another attacking full-back on the other flank in Frimpong has left Van Dijk, now 34, and Konaté exposed, highlighting even more the failure to sign Guéhi.
Last year Liverpool pursued Martín Zubimendi before converting Ryan Gravenberch to be a holding midfielder to great effect, but that is still not the Dutchman’s best position. Selling Díaz and not signing a replacement appears to be a mistake they will try to rectify in the January window.
It may all still work out for Liverpool. They have still signed good players.
The reputations of Edwards and Hughes are extremely high in football; they have proven track records and an impressive body of work to refer to.
But they should also be accountable. Not just Slot. And there is also that nagging question: did the need to change the Liverpool squad become a desire to shape it more in their image and less in Klopp’s? If that is the case then that may be where much of the problem lies.
