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Six-time European champions Liverpool are having a relatively quiet transfer window compared to their rivals. In fact, the Reds' only signings are that of Sepp van den Berg from PEC Zwolle for £1.3m and Fulham's highly-rated winger Harvey Elliott for a fee to be decided. A tribunal will set the fee to be paid for the 16-year-old.
Contrastingly, Liverpool's rivals have been very busy in the market. Naturally, the club's inactive nature has created scepticism among certain sections within the fanbase who want to see them make signings in areas they lack as much strength. They reportedly earned £251m TV income for the 2018/19 campaign, while recording a massive £125m profit for the 2017/18 financial year.
So, there's definitely no shortage of funds for the necessary additions to be completed. In this article, we take a look at three possible reasons why the Reds are failing to capitalise on their success off-the-pitch and thus far having a quiet transfer window:
#3 Spiralling wage bill
Generally, Liverpool are a club that runs on a tight wage structure. They do not overpay their players but instead make it up to them through performance-related bonuses.
With the recent acquisition of players like Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Sadio Mane, their stance on tight wages appears to have changed slightly. Salah, the club's highest-earner at £200,000-a-week, almost doubled his existing wages after he signed an extension last year. Similarly, the majority of the core players within the squad have signed long-term contracts with the club, substantially increasing their respective deals.
Liverpool's wage bill of £264m consumed 58% of the £455m turnover they had for the 2017/18 financial year. With recent extensions of players like van Dijk, Mane, Roberto Firmino and more besides, their wage bill is bound for a further increase.
Also not helping the club's cause is the fact that fringe players like Adam Lallana and Nathaniel Clyne are on high wages. Neither look set to depart this summer, meaning the scope for new additions continues to decrease towards next month's deadline.
#2 Building new training complex, Anfield Road stand expansion
Back in 2017, Liverpool revealed they were going to shift the training centre from Melwood to a new £50m facility at Kirkby. The facility's construction started last year and is expected to be completed before the start of the 2020/21 campaign. As a result of the changes, both the first-team and club's academy personnel are set to be merged at their new facility.
Alongside the new training facility, the Reds are also considering upgrading the Anfield Road stand by a further 4,000 seats which would take the Anfield capacity past the 60,000 mark.
They had already expanded the Main Stand back in 2016, increasing the capacity to approximately 54,000. This proved to be a major success for the club, justified by the matchday revenues gradually showing an increase over the past three seasons.
#1 A reported 'Galactico signing' for the 2020/21 season
While the term "Galactico signing" is not usually associated with Liverpool, there are subtle hints indicating that might change next year. The club's kit deal with New Balance is set to expire at the end of the 2019/20 season and they have been actively seeking a new deal, which would become the Premier League's highest.
Reports from a few months ago indicate they were in advanced talks with Nike over a record kit deal and the main reason why Liverpool wouldn't be looking to strengthen this summer is because they have something big planned over the next twelve months.
The contracts of Lallana, Clyne, Joel Matip and James Milner are set to expire in 2020. From the above-mentioned quartet, only Matip and Milner are likely to be granted extensions. After Daniel Sturridge and Alberto Moreno were both released in June, the club's wage bill has been reduced. With the ever-increasing TV revenues, a potential record kit deal and an uncluttered wage bill, a significant signing appears to be on the horizon for Liverpool soon.
