The exodus is officially underway.
With Liverpool expected to enjoy a quiet summer in terms of incomings, all eyes will be on the Anfield exit door in the coming weeks as Jurgen Klopp’s squad is trimmed ahead of the new season.
Big departures are not anticipated. Klopp has already allowed the likes of Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno to leave, and at this stage there are no plans to offload any other members of his Champions League-winning squad. Good bids for the likes of Dejan Lovren and Simon Mignolet, of course, could change that.
Rather, the focus will be on the club’s contingent of fringe players, most of which have spent some or all of the last 12 months out on loan.
Marko Grujic is the latest player to exit, with his season-long loan to Hertha Berlin announced on Monday.
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Sheyi Ojo has already gone, the latest player sent by Liverpool to work under Steven Gerrard at Rangers. The winger will hope for better fortune than he had with Stade Reims last season.
Behind those two, a queue is forming. All of Ben Woodburn, Ryan Kent, Harry Wilson, Ovie Ejaria, Herbie Kane, Kamil Grabara, Liam Millar, Pedro Chirivella, Anderson Arroyo and Taiwo Awoniyi are expected to leave on loan. Others – such as the teenage duo Curtis Jones and Adam Lewis – could follow. All have suitors already.
It’s been a good few years for Liverpool’s recruitment team. They have bought well, well enough to assemble a Champions League-winning squad, and sold well too.
On Monday, for example, the exit of Danny Ings to Southampton was confirmed; the Reds will receive £20 million ($25m) for a player who was restricted to just 25 appearances in four years at the club. Ings joins the likes of Dominic Solanke, Danny Ward, Mamadou Sakho, Kevin Stewart, Jordon Ibe, Christian Benteke and Joe Allen as scarcely-used players offloaded for eye-catching fees.
Their retention policy is equally strong, with the bulk of Klopp’s first-team squad tied down to long-term contracts. There are no release clauses at Anfield, enabling Michael Edwards and his team to demand big fees for any player – such as Philippe Coutinho – seeking an exit.
Those are three key strands of Liverpool’s long-term football strategy. The fourth concerns the club’s loan policy, and the way the development of their younger players is managed.
Last season, the Reds had as many as 20 players out on loan at various points, and that number is expected to be high once more. Julian Ward, the club’s loan pathways and football partnerships manager, will again be working overtime.
There are three types of loan at Liverpool. The first is the established first-team player who needs game time – such as Nathaniel Clyne and Loris Karius last season, or Sturridge the previous year.
The second is the non-EU player, who does not qualify for a UK work permit and so is ‘parked’ at a lesser European club to gain experience and improve their chances, long-term. Arroyo and Awoniyi are examples here.
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The third, and perhaps most important, is the elite Academy player seeking to make the transition from under-23 level to senior football.
For Liverpool fans, the sight of talented young players leaving the club each summer brings a sigh. Especially if, as in the case of Wilson, Grujic or Kent, the player has made tangible progress elsewhere.
Liverpool take a wider view. There is an appreciation that the bar has been raised in terms of what is required to break into Klopp’s squad and that, in most cases, a player will be best served, in Ward’s words, “developing remotely” out on loan.
“Some players take the elevator,” says Alex Inglethorpe, Liverpool’s Academy director. “Others take the stairs.”
Inglethorpe cites Harry Kane, whom he worked with at Tottenham, as a prime example. The England captain enjoyed four loan spells, of varying success, before earning his shot at the Spurs senior side. Plenty within the current England setup have trodden a similar path.
Liverpool accept this. Research conducted internally by the club shows that players breaking into the first-team at an elite European club have, on average, 170 senior appearances under their belt by the time their chance comes.
Mo Salah actually had 251 by the time he arrived at Liverpool in 2017. Sadio Mane had played 185 games when he moved to Anfield, Virgil van Dijk 261, Roberto Firmino 207, Andy Robertson 202, Alisson Becker 179. Even Jordan Henderson, signed as a 20-year-old eight years ago, had 92.
“These players, they wouldn’t have taken the place of a senior, established player when they were 19 or 20,” Inglethorpe told Goal recently. “A 20-year-old Mo Salah isn’t taking the shirt of a 26-year-old Mo Salah, is he? And the only difference between the two players is 200 games somewhere.”
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Of the players expected to leave Liverpool on loan this summer, Kent has racked up the most professional games, clocking 125 across spells with Coventry, Barnsley, Freiburg, Bristol City and Rangers. Grujic is not far behind on 97, with Wilson on 68 and Ejaria on 63.
This is not to say that those four can expect to be first-team regulars in the future. Rather, it offers perspective when people wonder why they are unable to break in right now. They are, to use Inglethorpe’s analogy, on the stairs.
Of course some are lucky enough to use the elevator. Trent Alexander-Arnold is an obvious example, while Rhian Brewster could prove another. Academy staff, meanwhile, are quietly optimistic about the hopes of 16-year-old forward Layton Stewart, who will join Barry Lewtas’ under-18 squad for this season.
More common, though, are cases like that of Woodburn, who emerged at the same time as Alexander-Arnold and was tipped to make a similar impact.
Still only 19, he is already a full international with Wales but this is a crucial summer. A disappointing spell at Sheffield United last season means he needs a productive loan this time around. As it stands, Hull and Wigan lead the race to sign him.
It is a risk, naturally. Managers come and go in the Championship at an alarming rate, and few have time to nurture and develop players that have been dropped into their clubs from above.
Liverpool know the importance of picking their clubs judiciously when it comes to loans – they have established relationships with certain coaches and certain clubs – and they encourage players to learn from the bad experiences as well as the good.
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The reality, of course, is that many of these players, perhaps all of them, will eventually fail to make the grade at Anfield.
In that case, the next-best scenario is to develop them into saleable assets. Not as romantic as bringing through a home-grown star, of course, but important still. Impressing on loan adds value to a young player, which simply wouldn't be the case if they were in the cosseted world of under-23 football, waiting for an injury crisis or the early rounds of the Carabao Cup.
Liverpool already value both Grujic and Wilson at more than £20m, and would ask for as much as £12m for Kent should he wish to leave permanently this summer. Awoniyi has already been the subject of interest at around £10m after a promising stint in Belgium with Mouscron. Successful loans this season, of course, would only raise those price-tags further.
It may jar with the traditionalists, but it represents improvement. Only a few years ago, Liverpool were getting precious little from their Academy, producing few first-teamers and losing the rest for peanuts. As an example, they received just £500,000 for Conor Coady, who has developed into a Premier League captain at Wolves.
Those days, they hope, are over. As they have with buying, selling and retaining, Liverpool have tightened up their loan game, formulating a clear strategy.
In the coming years, they can expect to see the fruits of their labour, whether it’s in their first team or their bank balance.