Reality finally catch up with Liverpool and the time has come for owners to make a stand or leave the stand

Liverpool were at a time the best in the Premier League. At the time, they compete with the best around the world for everything.

From players signings to the major titles – and that is why they have the most Champions League title of all other English teams and only a few has won the title more than their six times in all of Europe.

However, the most successful period in the club’s history has been at the time John Smith, who was the chairman between 1973 to 1990.

Since the club was sold to American businessmen, George Gillett and Tom Hicks in 2007, it has been an entire different fortune for The Reds as they were made to walk alone without proper investment.

To worsen matters, the two owners did not get along well and in 2010, a court ruling paved way to the sale the club after they were charged by their creditors – the new takeover was eventually completed in October.

Fenway Sports Group became its new owner in a £300 million takeover deal. But infield situations did not improve because of the owners reluctant to spend big like other competitors.

In the 2011/12 season, they were fortunate to end a six year trophy drought by beating Cardiff City 3-2 on penalties, following a 2-2 draw after extra time in the League Cup final in Wembley.

The run to the Cup success was inspired by Uruguayan striker, Luis Suarez, who was in his first six months at the club after he signed from Ajax in a £22.8 million deal in the winter transfer window.

Liverpool lacked the appetite to compete with the other top guns in the transfer window and Suarez soon left the club and move on to Barcelona in search for more success.

When they made the decision to appoint Jürgen Klopp in 2015, the German improved the situation with a couple of January transfers and at the end of the season, they reached the Europa League final, where they were beaten 3-1 by Sevilla in Basel, Switzerland.

In his first summer at the club, Liverpool signed six players for a combined fee less than £65 million – which included Sadio Mané for £30 million from Southampton and another £25 million on Georginio Wijnaldun from relegated Newcastle United.

Liverpool earned around £82 million from player sales that summer as the likes of Christian Benteke, Jordon Ibe, Joe Allen, Martin Skrtel, Luis Alberto and other youth players departed the club.

In a summer where the likes Chelsea, Manchester United and Manchester City were spending big because Leicester City had just been crowned league Champions, that was all Liverpool invested on incomings despite receiving more from outgoings.

Mohamed Salah and Alex Oxlade Chamberlain joined the following summer for moderate fees while Andrew Robertson was also snapped up in a £10 million move from Hull City.

Mamadou Sakho, Kevin Stewart, Lucas Lieva and Andre Wisdom left and the club coughed up around £35 million.

With around £93 million already spent on new signings, it meant Liverpool’s net spend for that summer is £58 million and with £17 million profit left of the net spend of Klopp’s first summer, the club had net spend of just £41 million on transfer under Klopp.

Liverpool were at the time a very entertaining team, scoring handful of goals but then, they also conceded way too much goals for a team competing for major titles.

The Liverpool breakthrough started the season they signed Mohamed Salah, because a deal also happened in the other part of Europe as PSG Paris Saint-Germain signed Neymar Junior from Barcelona for a whopping £198 million.

The following winter transfer window in 2018, Philippe Coutinho was wooed by Barcelona to come over to Spain and be Neymar’s replacement. The Brazilian rather forced his way out of Liverpool, who received around £106m with a further £36m in various add-ons.

That was the fee that helped Klopp transform Liverpool into world beaters with Virgil van Dijk joining from Southampton in the same window while Alisson Becker joined in the summer to complete the set and improve the leaky backline.

Between the winter and summer of 2018, the club has spent around £245 million on new signings, which saw the likes of Fabinho Tavares, Naby Keita Xherdan Shaqiri also became players of the club.

Here is a summary of the club’s net spend under Jürgen Klopp:

•2016/17 – £5m profit

•2017/18 – £10m profit

•2018/19 – £127m spend

•2019/20 – £31m profit

•2020/21 – £60m spend

•2021/22 – £52m spend

•2022/23 – £13m spend

•£206m total net spend in seven seasons.

Liverpool reached three Champions League finals in five years, winning it once in 2019 by beating Tottheham Hotspur in the final while the two final losses were to record winners, Real Madrid. 

They won the Premier League in 2020, ending a 30 year wait for the league title since last winning it in 1989/90. They also won the FA Cup and Carabao Cup in 2022.

The club’s spending does not come close to that of their main rivals but due to good scouting and proper management, Jürgen Klopp has been able to keep them in the midst of top competitors.

The German’s seventh year curse will claim much of the headlines for Liverpool’s decline but this fate was always coming to haunt them in the long run as other clubs continue to invest big to maintain status or achieve bigger heights.

The loss of Sadio Mané obviously has its side effects but this is more than the loss of just one player. The decline of Liverpool, team that recorded over 90 Premier League points last season is now loss away from not being able to reach that tally after just 12 games this term.

Liverpool have almost the same XI in the last four or five years and most of the players are now injury prone and approaching a decline as they age.

Their squad depth does not come anywhere close to the other big guns in the likes of Manchester City, Chelsea, or even Manchester United and Tottenham Hotspur.

When they needed a Goalkeeper backup in Alisson’s absence due to injury and Simon Mignolet’s departure, they could only get one in form of a free agent Adrian, who left West Ham United following the end of his contract.

The Spanish Goalkeeper ended up costing the club a place in the 2020 Champions League last eight following his errors in the loss to Atletico Madrid in the second leg loss in Anfield.

Since the summer recruitment following their to Real Madrid in the Champions League final of 2018, Liverpool’s main starters has only been slightly altered even after Sadio Mané’s recent departure to Bayern Munich last summer.

The defence has been unchanged while Henderson, Fabinho and Salah keep their places in the team.

Roberto Firmino, though has become a in and out of the XI has contributed more goals than the other players in his position at the club, Diogo Jota and Darwin Nunez.

Luis Diaz takes the place of Sadio Mané while Thiago Alcantara, who joined from Bayern Munich in 2020 is also a part of the starting XI – the Spaniard is also one of the constantly injured players.

The £85.36 million (add ons included) signing of Darwin Nunez from Benfica seemed a desperate move to match the force of Manchester City, who signed Erling Haaland in the same summer but with the loopholes still to be mended, City will for now be ahead of Liverpool.

Liverpool did beat their rival at Anfield in October but the distance between the two on the log is telling and the standing also shows that Manchester City are not the only one to make Liverpool worry.

As the league season drags on with their continuous poor performance, the chance to play in the Champions League next season could only be down to them winning the competition this season.

Arsenal and Newcastle United have so far shown they have what it take to finish in the top four this season while the likes of Tottheham and Chelsea also continue to push.

Manchester United under their new manager, Erik Ten Hag continues their rebuild and will also be eyeing Champions League football next season.

The competition is immense and clubs will continue to invest to preserve advantage or break into the top four.

With the signs shown by Liverpool owners, it is obvious they will struggle to keep up with this pace and losing Champions League football could also mean losing their best legs, which would be devastating and possibly send them back to where they were before the positive turn of event.

Even when it comes to players wages, Liverpool are not famous for paying as much as other big clubs, which also contributed to the few reasons they lost Sadio Mané.

But the time has come for them to make a stand for the club if they wish to keep it relevant, they have to make effort to grow as big as their main rivals in all ramifications.

If indeed the Klopp’s seventh year curse is also having its toll, then this is not the time to entertain emotion because the end of the current season could become too late if Liverpool do fail to secure Champions League qualification.

One of the problems they will face is the inability to attract marquee players while they will also struggle to keep their main players. When this happens, it becomes even more difficult to restore lost glory.

Whatever will happen to Liverpool between now and the end of the season will determine whether or not they can no longer keep up with the pack.

Author: Kehinde Hassan Afolabi