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Two Champions League finals, including a massive win at the end of last season, and a close run title challenge later, the core of this Liverpool side that Jurgen Klopp has been building since he arrived at the club in the summer of 2015 has grown and strengthened.
The German manager came close to winning two trophies in his first season in-charge at the club, but his Liverpool failed to win both the Europa League final and the Carabao Cup final. It did little but fan the flames around Klopp's final hoodoo, but Klopp ensured that Liverpool were now back in the Champions League. He repeated his fourth place finish for two more seasons, the 2017/18 one particularly significant for Liverpool's heartbreak in the Champions League final. That season was also the first time we saw the front three of Mane, Firmino, and Salah. The Egyptian national scoring a wild 32 goals in the league that season (44 in all competitions).
Its been an upward curve all this way with Liverpool, the question is whether the Champions League victory and the 97-point haul, only one short of Manchester City's title winning 98, is the crescendo.
The Merseyside club's silence in the summer transfer window so far has been a curiosity, especially for a club whose goal has to be the Premier League title. When quizzed about it, Jurgen Klopp remarked about the constant spending power of four clubs in particular, including Manchester City. He has also, on another occasion indicated that Liverpool have been proactive in extending deals and offering new contracts to key players.
Klopp, at least on the surface, doesn't seem worried about not making any high profile signings in the summer, but should he be worried? We take a closer look.
The positives for Liverpool
All is not bleak at Merseyside, the Reds have a lot to look forward to when the season begins. Sunday's Community Shield may be good look into what Klopp has in store for the season. There are some things that Liverpool supporters can look forward to this campaign regardless of the signings.
Cohesive unit
When speaking about the contract extensions and new deals offered to current key Liverpool players, Klopp referred to them as "transfers" but noted that no one was paying them any attention. The likes of Liverpool's front three - Mane, Salah, and Firmino have all inked new deals in the last 15 months. Add to that new deals for Andy Robertson, Alexander-Arnold, and Champions League hero Divock Origi and you start to see Klopp's picture.
Since 2015, Klopp has done a stellar job building the "spirit" of the team. The mentality of the team on and off the pitch has been outwardly one of "playing for each other" and a sort of fortress built around them provided the platform for a lot of their performances last season. Exemplified by their massive come back against Barcelona in the Champions League, and the Premier League race right to the last day, seemed to come from a place of togetherness from every player, on the pitch and on the bench for Liverpool.
Returning players
Adam Lallana and Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain sidelined by injury last season are the obvious big returning players for Liverpool who will feel like new signings. Their contributions in previous seasons and experience in the Premier League has indicated that they will have important contributions to the team this season.
We also saw the increased involvement of Divock Origi at the tail end of last season. His contributions were central to Liverpool's superb finish to the season. He's likely to start the season for Klopp's side as well, owing to Firmino's late return from Brazil's Copa America campaign.
The likes of Harry Wilson and Ryan Kent, who had good outings with Derby County and Rangers respectively will also be in for a shout. Add Rhian Brewster to that equation and Liverpool look positively chock full of talent.
Known quantity, new tactics
All the players in Liverpool's set-up are now ones that have either been groomed by Klopp in some way or tuned to his style of football. Pre-season has seen him try multiple options such as Lallana playing in a deep midfield position, a tactic that could be particularly useful playing against low blocks. He has also experimented with Brewster, Larouci, Wilson, and Kent in multiple positions.
He has been able to assign them these different roles and try out new systems owing to his knowledge of their characteristics and the players' familiarity with Klopp's expectations.
The negatives for Liverpool
Despite the positives that Klopp has pointed out pre-season, there are a few worrying factors in the lead-up to the season. The poor results in pre-season shouldn't mean much, but they may be symptomatic of larger issues for Liverpool that may be exposed as the season takes its course.
Gaps
This Liverpool side has some obvious gaps in important positions. Nathaniel Clyne has suffered a serious injury going into the season and is likely to miss most of it, leaving Liverpool with only one right-back. With Moreno leaving Liverpool in the summer, the situation remains the same with Robertson at left-back. Klopp's argument may be that he has capable youngsters coming through in Ki-Jana Hoever and Yasser Larouci, but when your title rivals have proven talent in all positions, perhaps youth is not the most prudent way to launch a title challenge.
All of Liverpool's three forwards played in most of their games when fit, the first round exits in both domestic cups make poor reading for Liverpool's back-ups. They need suitable deputies in forward positions so they can compete on multiple fronts without losing impetus.
Liverpool's biggest issue may be at centre-back. There's currently a big Dutch wall at the base of it, but without that foundation, Liverpool revert to shaky. They need to find a suitable partner for him who can take the reins in his absence as well. Any potential injuries to key personnel and Liverpool will find it difficult to cope.
Cramped schedule
Manchester City have played 59, 56, 57, and 61 games in the last four seasons. Their treble last season proved that the volume of games is something the large and quality squad is manageable.
Liverpool face the prospect of somewhere between 49-67 games this season - 38 Premier League ties, 6-13 Champions League games, 1-6 matches in the League Cup, 1-6 games in the FA Cup, 1-2 ties in the Club World Cup (to be played in December in Qatar), the upcoming Community Shield final and UEFA Supercup.
A packed squad would find it difficult to compete on all fronts, and Liverpool don't have a packed squad. In fact, the squad they do have contains key players who have hardly had a break this summer with national team commitments.
Statement
The biggest disappointment of Liverpool failing to sign anyone in the summer would be the lack of intent from the club. The narrative around the club has been one of can they or will they compete, when they most certainly will. A statement signing would have declared Liverpool's intentions loud and clear, throwing down the gauntlet to their rivals at the Etihad.
For now, it just seems like Liverpool are saying, we're going to do the best we can with the considerable resources we already have, which is an admirable sentiment, but not the rallying call of champions.
